


The First of Many

by kayla49



Series: Marvel Avengers Series [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, F/M, Minor Original Character(s), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), The Avengers (2012) - Freeform, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:14:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 45,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27623902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayla49/pseuds/kayla49
Summary: Life should be easy.Life should be full of love.Life shouldn't be this goddamn hard.Life sometimes likes to not be a fairy tale. So if you're expecting one.... you won't find it here. Not with my life experience.But all good things go bad, not matter how special they are.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Reader, James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Marvel Avengers Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081745
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. Prologue

It had just been a normal day. Well for me, it was. For everyone else, seeing a young sick child on the streets of New York was normal for them. To them, we were just a waste of space, but my story didn't end in a back alley in a big city like New York, it's where it began.

My eyes slowly opened as I came out of my dreamless sleep. Sitting up in my bed, my attention was drawn to the open window that was across from me. The soft lace curtains danced in the wind as hints of sunrise crawled in.

Wrapping my blanket around me, I stood to my feet and ventured out to the front porch. I sat down on the top step and clenched it closer to my chest as I sat. The rising sun casted warm rays on my face as someone placed a hand on my shoulder. Looking up, my father slowly sat down next to me. I leaned my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around my back, pulling me closer to him. 

I bit my bottom lip before speaking, "Do you think they're okay? That they're safe?" My eyebrows came together as the sound of my voice came out. He let out a small sigh and rubbed my arm.

"I would like to believe they are. We can only hope, my darling." His accented voice came out softly as it always does when he first awakes. 

"Do you think-," I paused, licking my lips. "Do you think we did the right thing by leaving them?"

"Well, darling, would you rather us be with them and risk their safety or have us be away for them to be safe?" He answered my question with a question. He always did that. Looking up at him, I saw what was in his eyes; he was hurting. Being away from them. 

His family. My family.

A tear slipped down my face as I thought about the family that took me in when I had nothing. They loved me when nobody had or wanted too. They protected me from the harsh winters and blazing summers of New York. They fed me to the point where I was no longer just a skeleton. They even treated me like I was one of their own children. 

I nodded, silently answering his question. They were safer without us. Leaning more into the cradle of his chest, I clenched the blanket as close as I could; trying to mimic a mother's hug. My eyes went to the hills as the sun raised higher in the sky, knowing that back home, the sun was going down for them. Knowing they were watching it as it went down, also thinking about us. 


	2. The Start

I stared down at the stack of papers in front of me as I tapped my fingernails on my desk. Glancing up at the telephone, I let out a small groan and threw my pen down on the desk as I raised my hands up to my temples, rubbing them. Closing my eyes for a few seconds, I took a few deep breathes before picking the pen back up and tried to concentrate on the paper in front of me.

My head jerked up as the telephone rang, its ring filling the silent room. My hand reached over and jerked it off the hook. "Hello?" I paused, cursing myself in my head. "Agent Donovan speaking." I cleared my voice, rolling my eyes.

"Yes, hello, Agent Donovan, this is Agent Connors. Is your father available?" The young man on the other side asked. The door opened behind me and I turned in my chair, seeing the man in question walking in with his briefcase in his hand.

"Yes, he just walked in. Just a moment." I placed my hand over the speaker and handed it out to my father. He accepted the phone and held it up to his ear. He turned away as he talked to the young man and I picked up the paper I was trying to work on.

"Yes, understood." My ears picked up before my father turned back around and placed the phone back on the hook. His expression on his face had my nerves going off the charts. 

"Is everything alright, father?" I asked, standing and placing a hand on his arm. "Did something happen to momma?"

A small smile graced his face as he turned his head to look at me. "No, it's not your mother. It's time, my darling." It was all he said but I knew what he was talking about. A smile slowly appeared on my face as a list started to form in my head of what we needed to do to get started. 

"Then we better get going."


	3. The Gift

It had been two months since that faithful day. The list that formed in my head was already being put to use as I sat at my desk in the underground facility in the town where I was born, New York. A file of a recent candidate was in my hands, my eyes searching for the one thing we're looking for when something heavy landed on the corner of my desk.

An eyebrow shot up as my eyes flickered to what was placed on my desk and frown when I saw it was gray box with a bright red bow. My eyes followed the hand that was leaning against the table to the proud, smirking man that they call Howard Stark.

"What's this?" I questioned as he placed a bouquet of roses on the desk. He smiled down at me and pushed the box closer to me.

"How could you forget your own birthday?" He answered my question with another question. I rolled my eyes. 

Do all men do this?

I let out a loud sigh and dropped my eyes down to the small calendar under all the files on my desk. In big letters which was not in my own handwriting, said BIRTHDAY. How could I forget with that?

"I've been quite busy," I gestured to all the files on my desk. He grunted and shook his head. "What? I have. I also don't celebrate my birth for a reason."

Mentioning my birth sent slight shivers down my spine. Closing my eyes, I still can recall the harsh hands connecting my back had me reopening them, my jaw tightening at the memories. 

Howard shoved the box closer to me, "Open it."

"Do I have to?" I asked, clicking my pen as I looked down at the file. Hearing the box getting shoved closer to me, knowing that was his answer. I sighed and put my pen down, grabbing the box.

Sliding it closer to me, I slowly took off the red ribbon and set it off to the side. Glancing up at him, he smiled and nodded at me to continue. I let out a small groan in defiance and lifted the top of the box. I instantly closed it.

"Do you like it?"

Lifting the lid back up, I pulled out the baby blue dress that was inside. The fabric felt like soft silk against my skin as I rubbed my hand on it. "Howard, I can't accept this. I know it's too expensive." I quickly put it back in the box and shoved it back towards him. 

"Yes, you can," He placed his hand on the top and moved it back towards me. "It's a gift and I want you to wear it tonight for the big reveal."

I shook my head. "I can't. I have work to do." I shoved the box off to the side and reached for another file. "Howard Stark!" Growling at him, as he ripped the file out of my hands and moved the whole stack away from me to another desk.

"Take the night off," He suggested, taking the box and placing it back in front of me. "You work harder than anyone, including me and your father, and we're the scientists. You need a night out." I shook my head at him. He groaned and leaned back with his hands clasped together in like a prayer. "Please, I'll even let you step on my feet when I take you dancing after."

I bit my lip as I thought about it. My hand reached out and lifted the end of the box so I could feel the fabric again. It sounded so tempting. My eyes flickered to the files that was behind him then back to the dress that I was feeling. "Okay, you win." 


	4. The Boy

The sign for the Recruiting Center shined bright as I walked underneath it and down the hall. The fabric of the dress Howard gifted me felt nice against my skin as it moved while I walked.

Many men turned their head to watch as I walked past them, but I paid them no mind. I didn't have time for a man before, definitely not now when the war needs my attention along with my father's.

"Agent Donovan, the files you requested." An older man in an army uniform said as he turned from a doorway and spotted me. He had a handful of files in his hands from the filing room. I stopped walking and turned towards him. 

"Thank you. Take these back to the filing room for me, please." I handed him the files I did not need any more as he placed the other files that I need from the New York City Recruiting Center into my hands. He nodded at request and quickly left my side towards the filing room. 

Glancing down at the files in my hands, I made my way back towards the front entrance where I saw my father standing, listening to one of many men around him. Once he saw me, he quietly excused himself and came to stand by me. "Quite a lovely color on you, dear. It suits you."

I glanced away from the giggling women in front of me as my hand brushed the fabric again. "Thank you. Howard got it for me for my..." I trailed off before I said the word. 

He brushed my hair out of my face while giving me a small smile. Patting my hand that he picked it up, he kissed it gently. "But if it wasn't for it, I wouldn't have you." He whispered.

I nodded and gave him a small smile to make him smile again. I turned away from him as he still held my hand as I watched the men and women look around at the displays in fascination.

Some of the men already had uniforms on and I smiled, but only slightly. They were going to serve their county in a fight that we may not even win. A broad male stepped up to the see-through display of a group of soldiers. His face showed up in line with the faceless soldier, making it appear like he was apart of that group. The female at his side giggled at him and tugged him away, further into the building. 

"How many candidates do we have?" I asked as another man stepped up to the glass. He was quite smaller than the last guy, maybe a few inches taller than me if I didn't wear heels.

The top of his head barely reached halfway up the empty slot because of his short stature. Another man came up behind him in a uniform and shoved his shoulder. The smaller man turned to him as I turned to face my father again. 

"Don't worry about that right now, my dear. Have fun, go dancing." He waved me off. I rolled my eyes and excused myself to get closer to the two I noticed before I turned to face him. 

"You go ahead. I'll catch up." The smaller one, the blonde, said to the taller man. The taller one gave him a look of disapproval.

"You're really gonna do this again?" He asked causing me to frown at that question. My eyebrows scrunched together as I caught the annoyance in his voice.

"It's a fair. I'm gonna try my luck." The smaller man commented to the bigger one with a shrug of his shoulders, causing me to think that he didn't care. I looked more closely at his face before glancing down at the files in my hands. 

"As who? Steve from Ohio?" The name on the files in my hands said Steven and my eyes snapped back over to the smaller man, Steve. "They'll catch you. Or worse, they'll actually take you." The bigger one snapped.

"Look, I know you don't think I can do this-," "This isn't a back alley, Steve, it's war." The bigger one interrupted the one known as Steve. I understood where the bigger on is coming from. He looked like he couldn't take a punch; much less carry a gun if he needed too.

"I know it's war. You don't have to tell me." Steve said, shoving his hands into his tan jacket. From where I was standing, I could tell that his body was tensing up.

"Why are you so keen to fight? There are so many other important jobs." The bigger man reminded him. I shook my head and reached up to fiddle with one of my necklaces. 

"What do you want me to do? Collect scrap medal-," "Yes!" The smaller one paused before continuing, "...in my little red wagon?"

The bigger one shook his head slightly as an annoyed look appeared on his face. I cocked my head at that action. Maybe they have had this conversation before, and he was tired of it. "Why not?"

"I'm not gonna sit in a factory, Bucky." Steve as I will call him, snapped at the bigger one he called Bucky.

"I don't..." The bigger one, Bucky, tried to say before pausing.

"Bucky, come on!" There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me." Steve explained to his friend.

I frowned at his explanation. This man just wanted to serve his country but probably couldn't because of possible health reasons. A smirk appeared on my face as I thought about it.

"Okay, because you got nothing to prove." His friend said. A hand touched my back and I flinched at the sudden contact. My head jerked over to see my father standing next to me, an apologetic look on his face. Guess the two caught his attention too.

"Don't do anything stupid until I get back." My ears picked up the taller one talking before he moved away from his friend towards two women.

"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you." Steve cracked back. His friend turns and walks back. 

"You're a punch." The man hugged Steve, tightly.

"Jerk." Steve responded back. "Be careful. Don't win the war til I get there." The uniform man saluted his friend before walking off with the two females. The smaller man turned and locked eyes with me. As he moved pass me, he nodded at me. "Ma'am." After he moved past me, I turned to my father, still smirking.

"What is it, my child?" His accent came out thick as he touched my arm, confused by my reaction. I held up the three files that had the same three names in them but from different cities. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "He's enlisted before."

Digging around in the filing room looking for that one file that may or may not be here was hard. I knew I saw it before but where had I put it? "Come on," I whispered as my fingers moved file after file forward. Ahhh! I ripped out the file and turned towards my father. "Steven Grant Rogers, New Jersey."

Once I found an officer to take us to Steve's examination room, he walked in first before opening the curtain for us and we walked in.

"Thank you," My father said as Steve looked from me to him then back to me from his chair. The officer nodded in respect towards me and left, shutting the curtain after. "So, you want to go overseas, kill some Nazis?"

"Excuse me?" Steve asked, looking a bit confused on why we were in here and asking questions. Probably wondering what he got himself into.

"Doctor Abraham Erskine and this is Agent Grace Donovan. We represent the Strategic Scientific Reserve." My father introduced us to him, gesturing back towards me as he said my name. 

"Steve Rogers." His voice came out a little shaky as he shook my father's out-stretched hand. My father nodded and walked over to me, placing the files in his hands on the bed. "Where are you from?"

"He's from Queens. 73rd Street and Utopia Parkway." I answered for my father, rattling off our old address. "Before that, Germany. Does this bother you?" My eyebrow shot up as Steve shook his head at my question.

"So where are you from, Mr. Rogers?" My father forced Steve's attention from me to back to him. "Mmm? Is it New Haven? Paramus? Five exams in four different cities."

"That may not be the right file." Steve very quickly interrupted him as the mentions of the exams came into question. His voice was filled with fear of being caught lying on the enlistment form. My eyes flickered to the sign that said not to lie on the form and he caught that motion immediately.

"It's not the exams we're interested in. It's the five tries but you didn't answer his question, Mr. Rogers. Do you want to kill Nazis?" I re-asked him my father's question. He looked a little bit taken back at the same question from me this time.

"Is this a test?" Steve asked, confused by the question again. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and I guess my father sensed that because he answered for me, "Yes."

Steve waited for a moment then licked his bottom lip before speaking. "I don't want to kill anyone. I don't like bullies. I don't care where they're from."

"Well, there's already so many big men fighting this war." My father glanced back at me as I closed Steve's folder and picked it up off the bed before turning back to Steve. "Maybe all we need now is a little guy. Uh? I can offer you a chance." My father ripped open the curtain, before walking out. "Only a chance."

"I'll take it." Steve quickly accepted as he followed my father and me, carrying his jacket over his arm. I glanced up at him as I placed his file on the desk outside the exam room. 

"Good. So where is the little guy from? Exactly?" My father asked, turning to him.

"Brooklyn." Steve answered, a small smile appearing on his face. My father glanced at me over Steve's shoulder as I quickly wrote it down before stamping his file. 

I hand it to my father who handed it off to Steve. "Congratulations, soldier." He said before walking away. His hand reaching up to rub my shoulder as he passed. I gave him a small smile before turning back to Steve. He had his file open and a surprise look on his face.

"I..." He bit his lip before turning his attention back to me. 

"Congratulation, Mr. Rogers." I told him as he smiled down at his file. He nodded as he continued to keep his attention on his file. "The fun hasn't even begun."


	5. The Recruits

It was just a few days after I arrived at the training camp where I saw him again. Steve Rogers. It was late in the afternoon; the sun was still high in the sky as I stood off to the side of the recruits, waiting for my partner, Peggy.

She was supposed to arrive with more paperwork for the recruits to file out. My heeled foot tapped to a non-existing beat as my hand tightened around the files I already had in my hands to hide and suppress my annoyance.

My jaw hardened as the long row of men continued to get an eyeful of my form fitting black skirt and blue colored blouse. I shifted to my other foot and some of the recruits whistled like they were back home but only one of the recruits really caught my attention. Steve's. His eyes kept moving from the ground to my nice silky legs and back to the ground, his face turning redder each time he did. 

"Recruits attention," Peggy's voice towered over all the men as they all straightened to face forward towards me as she rounded around the first male. "Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter and this is Agent Donovan. We supervise all operation for this division."

"What's with the accent, Queen Victoria?" A man spoke up as Peggy paused and looked at him. "I thought I was sighing up for the US Army, not a beauty pageant. Not that I'm complaining. You are one good looking dame."

My eyebrow shot up as Peggy jerked around to look at me, her eyes widening when she saw the fury light up in my eyes. "What's your name, soldier?" I asked, stepping forward. Peggy stepped back as I handed her the files in my hands and moved to stand in front of him. He gave me a nice look up and down, like I was here for his entertainment and pleasure. 

"Gilmore Hodge, dame." He smirked down at my 5"1' stature. Probably thinking since I was small, that maybe I was also defenseless. My face hardened slightly as anger flared up inside my body. He also thinks he's funny.

"You think you're funny?" I crossed my arms over my chest that caused his eyes to move directly to them. "Step forward, Hodge." He looked down the row and took that small step forward. He turned his head back to me, giving me his attention. "Put your right foot forward." 

"Mmmm....we gonna wrassle?" A smirk graced his face, still thinking that this was a game. "Because I got a few moves I definitely know you'll like." He made the mistake of grabbing my arm as I unfolded my arms, winking at me. 

I huffed and fully grasped his wrist that was holding my arm in my other hand. I jerked his wrist off to the side and kicked the back of his supporting leg. Once he was on his knees, I curled my hand into a fist and threw it forward, hitting him straight in the nose. I let go of his wrist as he dropped back down the ground. 

I crouched down next to him, making sure my skirt didn't touch the dirt. "If you want to keep that hand, don't ever touch me again. That goes for all of you!" I shot up as I yelled the last part at the other recruits. 

"Agent Donovan!" I jerked around to face the person calling my name. 

"Coronel Phillips." I greeted him as he walked up to me from his truck. I placed my hands behind my back to hide the small amount of blood from Hodge's nose on my knuckles and for respect. 

"I can see you're breaking in the new candidates. That's good." He told me, proudly. I held back a smile as he turned to face Hodge, who was still on the ground holding his nose. "Get your ass up out of the dirt and stand in that line at attention until someone comes and tells you what to do."

"Yes, sir." Hodge replied as he quickly go to his feet. He sniffed as blood slowly trickled down his lip and into mouth. 

I looked over my shoulder and saw my father sitting in the truck, a look of a proud father on his face. Coronel Phillips moved in my direction and gave me a half smile before turning back to the recruits, a stone-cold expression on his face. 

"General Patton has said, "wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men." We are going to win this war because we have the best...men," Phillip's eyes finally landed on Rogers, who was a good head shorter than everyone else in his line.

Phillips glanced at me and gave me a 'really' look. I cleared my throat and shrugged before he continued. "And because they are gonna get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an allied effort made up of the greatest minds of the world." Like my father's.

"Our goal is to create the best army in history, but every army starts with one man. At the end of this week, we will choose that man." Phillip's gestured to him, me, and my father. "He will be the first in the new breed of super soldiers and they will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of hell."

After his nice speech, he turned and walked over to me, grasping my elbow. He turned me away from the recruits and leaned closer to my ear before he spoke again. "Really? Him?"

"Do you have a problem with my choices, Coronel? We could gladly take it up with my father and the funders." I stated, keeping an innocent look on my face. His jaw tightened as he knew that the funders like me better than him and listened to my opinions along with my father.

He huffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head. He got back in his truck that he arrived in with my father. I mouthed 'love you' to my father before the truck pulled away. I flicked my wrist and looked at the time, turning my attention back to the recruits. "Alright, ladies. You're dismissed for the night. Get a good night's rest 'cause you'll need it."

They all quickly scattered towards the barracks causing Peggy to moved over to me. "Looks like you got Rogers' attention."

"I got everyone's attention." I responded as my head rolled towards her as I pursed my lips at her assumption. I sighed as she raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay, maybe he thinks he owes me for getting him in. Which I did but for certain reasons other than liking him."

"Mmmm, okay."


	6. The Undefeat

The next few days were harsh to say the least, well not for me. It was all going well until we got to the rope climb where it all went to hell. Rogers was already struggling before he even made it halfway up the rope wall, but he managed to which I was quite surprised.

Once he was about halfway up, he somehow got his foot tangled and fell backwards, so he hung upside down in the rope. Hodge flew by him and once he got to the top, he looked down at him and laughed like it was funny. He then moved his glaze to me as he that before climbing over the top and onto the other side. 

I lifted my shoe back on my foot from where it hung from just my toes and climbed down from my spot on the back of a parked truck. Rogers was still struggling to get his hands on the rope by the time I walked over to it. 

I held up my hand, signaling them to stop and they all just stared at me. I placed a heeled foot on the rope and slowly climbed to where he was stuck. Placing my hand on his back, his head jerked in my direction. "Pull yourself up."

He nodded and followed my order and curled himself up. With my help, he managed to grab onto the rope and untangled himself from it. I waited until he got over the top before slowly climbing down. All too away that all the recruits were getting an eyeful of my skirt tightening on my bottom.

Once I was down, I pulled down my skirt as it had also ridden up as I climbed. What had caught my attention while doing so was that Hodge was glaring at Rogers as he came back around to the group. 

Childish, these men were.

The next problem that I had with these damn recruits was during the army crawl under the barbed wire with rifles in their hands. It had just rain for a few days so there was good amount of mud underneath them. 

They were doing as I had instructed, going down, crawl, up then back again when something caught my eye. My eyebrows scrunched together when Hodge and another candidate smirked to each other and took their turn. Steve was directly behind the other candidate as they crawled through the mud.

The candidate in front of Rogers suddenly paused and glanced back at him before turning slightly and kicked out the pole that was in front of Rogers. My eyes widened in fear of someone getting hurt as the pole fell, causing the barbed wire to collapse just in front of Rogers. My heart stopped for a second before restarting when I saw that no one was hurt. 

An officer quickly ran past me, yelling at Rogers to get the rifle out of the mud. Rogers kept the rifle in one hand as he somehow managed to get the pole back up and kept going. I rolled my eyes and quickly scratched out the candidate's name that kicked the pole. 

No room for children in the project.

Twirling my pen around my fingers, I watched all the recruits at dinner later that night. Everyone sat in little groups' except of course, Rogers. He lifted his spoon and was about to eat it when he suddenly looked up at me. 

Turning my head away back down to the file in front of me, I quickly wrote a note in Steve's file. I placed a hand on where my shoulder met my neck and slightly groaned. The kink in my neck throbbed as I rolled my head from side to side. 

"If you put some heat on that, it will go away faster." My head snapped up to the sound of Steve's voice. He shifted on his other foot as he stood in front of me. 

"Yes, thank you." I said as I slowly closed his file so he couldn't see anything that was confidential. The moment I did that, his eyes flickered to the file and they widened when he saw that it was his that I was messing with. I got up from my seat and picked up all the files, turning to him. "If you would excuse me."

* * *

Still rubbing my neck the next afternoon, I glanced up and surveyed the area. The soldier next to me in the truck still sat straight ahead, doing the same. Peggy had this job yesterday and I guess she felt like it was my turn to wait out in the beating sun since the Coronel requested her presence. I groaned again as the kink in my neck throbbed again. 

"Another one, ma'am?" The soldier asked. I nodded to answer his question. "Maybe your father is working you too hard."

I was about to snap at him for his comment when I heard the officer yelling behind me. Moving my body to watch, the candidates ran up to the flagpole, with Rogers following the rear.

"Squad! Halt!" All the recruits came to an abrupt halt. The officer pointed to the flag and all them looked up at it. "That flag means we're only at the halfway point. First man to bring it to me gets to ride back with Agent Donovan. Move!"

All the recruits instantly raced to the pole. Some tried to climb it but failed by slipping down from the sweat on their hands. The officer yelled at them as my attention was again on Rogers. He was the only one not going for the flag, but he had a reason. He was bent over, hands on knees as he tried to catch his breath.

My attention was brought back to the group as Hodge's name reached my ears. Hodge got a few feet up the pole before slipping down like the rest. "Now fall back in line. Come on, fall in. Let's go, get back into formation." Everyone listened to his order, but Rogers and the he quickly noticed. "Rogers! I said fall in!"

Rogers ignored him as he glanced up at the flag as he walked up to it. He suddenly bent down and pulled out the screw. He quickly yanked out the holder that was holding the pole straight in the air and it came crashing to the ground with a loud thud. I smiled as he threw both the items in his hands to the ground and picked up the flag.

He walked over to the officer and handed it to him. "Thank you, sir." He said, breathlessly. He climbed into the back of the truck and sat down behind me, giving me a proud smile. The truck switched on and we made our way back to camp. 


	7. The Harsh

It was later that night; I was already in bed with Roger's file in my lap. A knock at the door had my head snapping up. Glancing at my watch, I frowned at the time. Getting up, I grabbed a blanket off the end of the bed to cover me modestly and slowly opened the door.

"Father, what are you doing here this late? You should be resting." I commented as he slowly shuffled into the room. His eyes instantly went to my bed as he saw all the files on it. 

"So should you, my dear." He replied. I closed the door and placed a hand on his shoulder. He held out a cloth to me and I took it. "Peggy was telling me you've been having trouble sleeping and getting kinks in your neck. I thought this would help. Sit."

He sat down on the chest at the end of the bed and I sat down at his feet. He moved my hair to the side as I had it down from its usual bun. Since it was so long, about to the curve of my back, I had to wear it up so it wouldn't get in the way. I let out a soft moan as he placed the heated on my neck. "Are you having nightmares again, my child?"

My eyes started to water as I thought about it. I guess he felt me stiffen because he reached down and wrapped his arms around me from behind. A few tears slipped down my cheeks as I held onto his arms. "I don't understand why they won't go away."

He held me tighter as I whimpered. I sniffed as he rubbed his thumb on my exposed arm. Reaching up, he placed the other hand on my wet cheek, turning it so I could look at him. "You had a extremely hard start in life, my child. They won't just go away."

"I wish they would." He gave me a soft smile and smoothed his thumb over my check. A small amount of comfort went through my veins causing a small shiver to rack through my body. 

"So do I, but as I said before, they are your memories. They are your life before me." Turning my attention to my hands, I remembered when he found me. All alone, so hungry. In so much pain. "No matter how much love and care I give you, they will always be there. Every hit, every kick, every hunger pain. All the pain of loss. It will always be there."

"I always wondered what would have happened if you didn't find me." I admitted to him. A ghostly expression crossed his face as he thought about it also. "Wonder what life would have been like if you didn't find me in that alley."

"Well you were already so close to death when I found you, my child. You had looked more like a toddler than a pre-teen. You were so, so small and so fragile. I was afraid of even touching you 'cause I had thought you would have broken into a million pieces." He whispered. 

"Kind of like Rogers?" I slightly laughed. He smiled and nodded. He extended his hand to smooth over my hair as it had moved in front of my face. "I'm glad you found me even thought sometimes I don't express it."

"Oh, child." He sighed and touched his forehead to mine, his eyes staring into mine. "Don't you ever say that again. You may have had a mother, a father, and..." He paused as I slowly shook my head. I didn't want him to say it. Hearing her name always sent sharp pain to my heart. "An also an elder sister but you will always be my daughter. Blood or not."

"You have always been my father. So has momma." I whispered to him as I closed my eyes. "I just miss her so much, father."

More tears slipped out as he knew that I wasn't talking about his wife, my mother. He knew I was talking about her. My elder sister. He nodded and drew me back into his arm, into his chest. I stuck my face into it as I sobbed. He smoothed his hands over my back as he held me. 

"I know, my child. I know you do." His breath brushed against my ear as he whispered. "She kept you as long as she could. She did everything to make sure you survived until someone like me found you."

As he said that, I remembered every time she gave me her portion of food. A small smile always graced her face as she saw me eating it. It was always small, our rations but she still handed hers over to me almost every other night. She always handed me her extra layer of clothing whenever I complained of being cold. Gave me her half of water whenever it was blistering hot and my tongue was dry as a bone. She did everything she could until...

He pulled back and placed both hands on my cheeks, making me focus on his eyes; a few tears about to escape. "She did all of it because she loved you. And looked what happened, you survived."

"But she died because of it."


	8. The Arrival

"Faster ladies, come on. My grandmother has more life in her, god rest her soul." Peggy commented to the recruits, clearly not liking the job she had switched me with. Turning to me, she gave me a smug look before turning back to the recruits, who were doing push-ups. Well, Rogers was struggling doing them. "Move it!"

My ears perked up as I heard Coronel Phillips' voice closer to me. "You brought a ninety-pound, asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought what the hell, maybe he'll be useful to you and Donovan like a gerbil, never thought she would pick him."

"Up!" Peggy ordered and all the recruits jumped up and started to do jumping jacks which Rogers also struggled with.

"Stick a needle in that kid's arm and it's gonna go right through him." Glancing over at them, Phillips gestured towards Rogers as they came to a stop where I was seated on the back of the truck. "Look at that, he's making me cry."

I leaned forward so they could see that I was sitting there and stepped in. "We are looking for qualities beyond the physical, Coronel." His head snapped to me, a grimace on his face.

"Do you know how long it took to set up this project? All the graveling I had to do to Senate-what's-his-face." Phillips asked me. I rolled my eyes. Yes, because you did so much graveling while I did all the hard work with him. My father placed a hand on my skirt covered knee.

"Brandt. Yes, we know. I'm well aware of your efforts." My father told him. Nodding his head in respect for Phillips' hardish work. 

"Then throw me a bone. Hodge passed every test we gave him. He's big, he's fast, and he obeys orders. He's a soldier." Phillips gestured towards Hodge, who I know was achieving all levels of everything physical.

I shook my head. "He's a bully." I turned my attention back to Phillips, remembering all the childish acts he played against Rogers. Even gotten some of the candidates kicked off the list with them.

"You don't win wars with niceness, Donovan." Phillips reminded me. I sighed in annoyance as it all came down to that, niceness. My jaw tightened as I reached back and grabbed a fake grenade, holding it out so he could see it.

"Of course, you don't win with niceness but with guts, Phillips." I told him. Both him and my father watched as I pulled the string and tossed it in the direction of the recruits, yelling "Grenade!"

Hodge immediately spotted where the grenade was bouncing towards and yelled for everyone to move. Everyone scattered away from it to hide behind something other than Peggy and Rogers. He ran towards it as Peggy did, and laid down on top of it. I smiled as my point was proven. 

He cradled himself into a fetal position, covering the fake grenade as best as he could with his small body. He tensed up, getting ready for it go off which wasn't gonna happen. 

"Get away! Get back!" Rogers yelled at Peggy, clenching in closer into himself. I smiled as he looked like a hero, something he wanted to be. Steve finally realized that it wasn't going to explode and sat up. Peggy placed her hands on her hips as they both turned to look at me, both confused. "Is this a test?"

Phillips turned away from Rogers to me, a stern grumpy expression on his face. "He's still skinny." And with that, he marched away. All the recruits went back into formation as Rogers got up and dusted himself off, doing the same. 

My father squeezed my knee causing me to look at him. "How are you doing this morning, my child?"

"Better. I didn't have one last night." I added, knowing that was what he was really asking about. After our talk last night, we moved onto the candidates who were left, and I had chosen Rogers out of the batch which obvious Phillips wasn't happy about.

"Maybe you just needed the sense of protection while you were asleep." He replied. Since it was so late last night, he stayed with me in my room. He had let me sleep with my head on his chest like I used to when I was younger. Guess it made me feel safe, having me there. "Are you coming tonight when I go to talk to Steven?"

I moved my hand over his and gave it a squeeze. "No, I think I'm gonna head to Brooklyn. Get ready for tomorrow, check on Howard. You know how he is before these types of things."

"Are you sure?" He asked again, moving his head so he could look into my eyes. I moved my hand away from his and grabbed his arms, rubbing them up and down.

"Yes, just make sure you tell him about Schmidt, okay? He has a right to know about him." I told him. HIs eyes fell to the floor and nodded. I reached up and rubbed my thumb on his cheek. "Did you get my gift this morning?"

"Yes, how did you get it?" His eyes lightened when I mentioned his gift. It was a bottle of liquor from his home country.

"Momma found it before we came here. I was saving it for when we won and came home but now is a good time than any tonight. Celebrate with Rogers when you tell him, he deserves to be proud of himself. Also, don't drink too much." I added on, pointing a finger at him. He nodded and kissed my cheek.

"You'll be careful when you leave?" He asked, fearing what happened before would happen again. I gave him a small smile. "Okay, also don't cause too much trouble with Stark. You know how he is when he's with you."

"Oh, I know, father."


	9. The Hidden

"Wow, even more beautiful than the last time I saw you." Howard commented as I walked down the stairs at the lab. He came over and kissed my cheek as I rolled my eyes. 

"Do you have everything you need?" I asked him as I rounded the machine. He moved towards the machine also and observed it. 

"Yes, now that you're here." He flirted and I rolled my eyes at him again, laughing slightly. 

"You're flattering yourself now." I told him. He laughed causing me to laugh more with him. 

Suddenly the room became quiet causing me to turn and see Steve staring down at all of us with Peggy next to him. They walked down the steps and Steve walked up to my father which I didn't notice had arrived until now. 

"Morning," He greeted Steve. A camera flashed in their faces and my father scowled them. "Please, not now."

I walked over to them and touched my father's back. Steve glanced at the machine next to him and tensed slightly. "Are you ready?" I asked him and he nodded at my question.

"Good. Take off your shirt, your tie, and your hat." My father ordered. He did just that and handed them off to a nurse who was standing not far. Steve stepped up on the machine and laid down. He scooted around, looking a little small in the big machine. My father and I stood on either side of him. "Comfortable?"

"It's a little big." Steve stated the obvious to my father. We both chuckled at his answer. "Save me any of the schnapps?"

My attention was turned to my father as I saw his guilty face. "Not as much as I should have." He avoided looking at me, and I just shook my head and rolled my eyes playfully. "Sorry, next time. Mr. Stark, how are your levels?"

"Levels at 100 percent." Howard answered as he came to stand next to me, touching small of my back as he did. "We may dim half the light in Brooklyn, but we are ready. As we'll ever be." I shushed him as Steve got all tense and worried. I touched his arm and he turned his glaze on me.

"It'll be okay. They know what they are going." I reassured him, rubbing his arm. He nodded at me and jumped slightly when a thump sounded over the microphone.

"You hear me?" My father's voice echoed through the room. "Is this on? Ladies and gentlemen, today, we take not another step towards annihilation but the first step towards the path to peace. We begin with a series of micro-injects into the subject's major muscles. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular and then to stimulate growth, the subject will be asserted with vital-rays."

I picked up a needle that was on the tray next to me and rubbed a wipe on Steve's arm to clean the skin. I slowly put the needle in his arm and his face scrunched up in pain. I slid it out and held my glove-covered thumb over the injection site, so blood didn't slip out as I placed the needle back on the tray. "That wasn't so bad."

Turning back to him, I bit my lip to hold back a laugh but a smile broke free. "That was penicillin." His eyes widened as I told him. I rubbed his arm again, giving him a soft him. 

"Serum infusion beginning in five, four, three, two, one." My father counted down. I stepped back as the blue liquid disappeared into Steve's major muscles. His face scrunched up again in pain. "Now, Mr. Stark."

The machine moved to straighten upwards, closing around Steve. My father walked up the steps and tapped on the glass that was near Steve's face. "Steven? Can you hear me?"

I heard Steve say something but couldn't make it out from where I was standing. My father stepped back and nodded down at Stark. I put on my protective goggles and moved further away from the machine. 

Stark started to power up the machine and started to call off percentages. The room filled with a very bright light from the machine to the point where I had to put a hand up over my eyes. At about 70 percent, Steve's screams filled the room. My heart swelled with fear at his screams. 

"Steven!" My father yelled as he stepped back up to the machine, tapping on the glass, trying to get Steve's attention. I could hear Peggy shouting but all I could hear was my sister's screams rather than Steve's. "Kill the reactors, Mr. Stark. Kill the reactors."

"No!" My mind snapped out of the past and back to the machine. "Don't. I can do this." Steve hollered. My father nodded and Howard continued upping the percentage. I flinched back as the panel started to spark and the light from the cradle went away. 

"Mr. Stark." My father yelled. Howard pressed a button and the cradle opened to reveal a taller, stronger Steve Rogers. I rushed over, helping him get out with my father's help. Steve held onto my shoulder as he finally looked down at my 5"1' stature.

"You did it." He breathlessly said. I smiled at him then glanced at my father. 

"Yeah, I think we did." My father added on. Peggy came racing over and stood in front of us. 

"How do you feel?"

"Taller." He answered her as he straightened to his new full height. Peggy reached out and almost touched his sweaty chest but stopped herself. She yanked the shirt from the nurse's hands and gave it to him. 

"You look taller." She agreed. I looked around as people crowded the lower level and my eyes landed on a man near the stairs. His face was one I knew way too well, and it wasn't a good one.

"Father." I reached out for his arm as he was standing next to me. He turned to me and then looked in the direction that I was. He too, recognized him. 

Then something exploded from the upper level. My eyes closed as glass came shattering out towards the crowd, cutting into my lower jaw, neck and shoulder as my father tried to cover my head. 

"Stop that man!" He yelled, straightening to point out the man. I looked up as I could feel the blood dripping down onto my shirt. The man took the last vial of the serum and pulled out a gun, shooting it.

"NOOOO!"


	10. The Buried

Rain hit me as it poured down from the sky. My eyelashes flickered as the rain dripped into my eyes, but I didn't care. Howard came up from behind me and held an unbrella over me. 

"Grace-," "Please, don't." I interrupted him. My voice came out shaky and low. Howard touched my lower back and I flinched away from the touch.

"He's gone, Grace," He whispered as I continued to stare down at the tombstone. "You gotta let him go." My eyes closed as I remembered what happened just a few days ago....

"NOOO!" I screamed as the bullet hit my father square in the chest. I quickly caught him in my arms as he started to fall and eased him to the floor. 

Tears fell down my cheeks and onto his face as he looked up at me in pain. He reached up and touched my cheek, wiping away blood and tears from it. I grabbed his hand and held it to my face. 

Steve appeared on the other side of my father and he turned to look at him. He reached up with his other hand and pointed at Steve's heart. My father turned back to me as his eyes started to glaze over before taking his last breath.

I let out a cry and leaned over him, clenching his lifeless body to me. No, no, no. Don't go, please. A pair of lips touched the top of my head along with two hands, but I didn't care. My father had been murdered and died before my eyes, just like she had. Another pair of hands grabbed my arms and carefully tugged me away. 

"Grace, let him go."

My eyes opened to look up at Howards as his words still echoed in my head. He reached and wiped away a tear that was about to escape my eye and moved my hair behind my ear.

"You have to let him go." He whispered again.

"He's my father. The only person that genuinely loved me. I can't let him go. Not him." I whimpered out. "Why did it have to be him?"

Howard stayed silent as he didn't know how to respond to that question. Behind me, I heard footsteps walking up and I knew it was Steve. He was here for the funeral, along with everyone from the lab.

"We have to go, Grace." Howard said as he gave me a few more moments. I nodded, knowing I would have to leave him. I reached up and kissed my hand, placing it on top of the tombstone.

"Can I have a minute to myself, please?" I asked the both of them. Turning my head to look at Steve after I saw Howard no, Steve looked down as his answer. They both started for the car while I walked a little ways to another tombstone.

I got down on my knees on the cold, wet ground as the rain got a little lighter but didn't stop. Reaching forward, I touched the stone and felt how cold it was. I haven't been here for a long time but there was nothing here for me to visit. 

"Who was she?" My head snapped up as Steve's voice reached my ears. Craning my neck to look up at him, he stared down at me. His eyes flickered to the stone, to the bandages on my neck and jaw then back to my eyes. I turned away from him and back to the stone.

Emma Donovan.

It was her name. "She's my sister."

"Why isn't she over there with your father? Why is she all alone over here." He asked, prying a little.

"There's no body here." I admitted as I sniffed. "We never admitted it to anyone but everyone kind of knew, my father wasn't really my father. He found me when I was twelve years old, starving on the streets of New York. He was the only one who was ever care what really happened to me and now...he's gone."

"What happened? To her, I mean?" He questioned. Hearing him shift, he kneeled next to me as I watched him. I took a deep breathe as all the memories of her flooded back in at once. 

"She died when I was eight in the winter of 29'. She went out looking for food and she never came back," I paused and licked my lips. "Couples of weeks later, I found an article in the street about a young girl found murdered and dismembered in the bay. They talked about a birthmark on the inside of her leg and another on her forehead; and I just knew. I knew it was her."

"Why isn't her body here?"

"The newspaper was weeks old. The day after she went missing. I knew by then that they didn't have her body anymore. So, before my father took me to Germany, he did this for me," I gestured with my head towards the stone. "I didn't appreciate it at first because he didn't know her, but I knew he did it because I needed it at the time."

It fell quiet between us for a few moments. Out of the corner of my eye, his right hand twitched. Then his hand was suddenly on my shoulder, pulling me into his side. I leaned my head against his shoulder as his thumb rubbed my shoulder. 

"I never really thanked him," I felt him shift as I spoke again. "For everything he did. He and his family became mine. He gave me a future that I didn't have and I never thanked him, for any of it. And he'll never know how much I appreciated him."

Steve leaned his head against mine as he looked down at the stone. "He knew, Grace. He knew."


	11. The Sorrow

I sniffed as I clenched my arms around me. It was just the day after the funeral. The wounds on my neck, jaw and shoulder were starting to heal from the glass. My tears have long been dried up and gone, leaving an empty shell of myself. I clenched my arms closer as the nurse took more of Steve's blood. His eyes flickered to the exposed, healing cuts on my body before going back down to the needle in his arm. 

"Think you got enough?" He complained to the nurse as she took the needle out of his arm. He rolled down his sleeve once she nodded and stood up.

"Any hope of reproducing the program is locked in your genetic code but without Dr. Erskine, it would take years." Peggy said sincerely as Steve stepped in front of me.

"He deserved more than this." He said to me. I gave him a barely there smile at his comment.

"It worked once. He was proud it was you to begin with." I spoke for the first time since yesterday. After crying all night, my voice was raw. A tear slipped down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away from my sleeve before moving out of the room and down the steps. 

"Coronel Phillips, my commit is demanding answers." Senator Brandt said as they walked towards my direction.

"Great, Why don't we start on how a German spy got a ride to my secret insolation in my car?" Phillips asked, before turning to Howard who was looking at the machine that Heinz Hruger tried to get away in. "What do we got?"

"Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanic engineer in the country but I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology." Howard explained as he placed a hand on top of the machine.

"Then who is?" Brandt huffed. 

"Hydra. I'm sure you've been reading our briefings that Agent Donovan so gladly sends for us every week." Phillips assumes in a sarcastic voice.

"I'm on a number of commits, Coronel." Brandt fired back, offended. I decided to step out of the shadows and fully into the room.

"Hydra is a Nazi Deep Science Division. It's led by Johann Schmidt, but he has much bigger ambitions." Everyone turned and noticed me leaning against a pillar as I spoke. Phillips' eyes held a sad look once they landed on me. He didn't like my father's choices, but he did care. 

"Hydra's practically a cult. They worship Schmidt. They think he's invincible. From what Donovan tells me, whoever meets him most likely always dies. Judging by her very whole experiences." Phillips adds on. Across the room, people eyes widened as they heard. 

"So, what are you gonna do about it?" Brandt asked. I stepped down into the pit where Howard was working on the machine, trying to debug it. He glanced up at me as I ignored the conversation a little to look at the inside of the machine.

"Sir, if you're going after Schmidt, I want in." Steve's voice reached my ears and I wasn't surprised by him wanting to help.

"You're an experiment so you're going to Alamogordo." Phillips responded to him.

"The serum worked." Steve reminded him as he glanced down at me then back to Phillips. Phillips shook his head at him.

"I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough. Donovan, with me." Phillips ordered. I climbed out of the pit and followed him, passing Steve in the process. "You're going into the field."

"What? I don't work the front lines, sir." I reminded him. He stopped and turned to me. I stood my ground as I crossed my arms. 

"Your father just died, and I also don't need you here at the moment. You need to get you anger out on whomever. Also, the 107th needs someone with your skill set. Pack a bag, you're going."


	12. The Spy

I groaned as I slowly woke up. My head was pounding and my eyes flickered open. They moved around as I caught sight of the men I knew surrounding me. One man was seated next to me, a bloody cloth in his hand. "Hey, you're awake."

"What happened? Where are we?" My voice came out hoarse and dry. It was dark, the only light that came in was from the window above us where a guard stood. The man with the cloth gave me a concerned look and spoke. "You don't remember?"

Now that I thought about it, I did.....

* * *

I sighed as I finally was able to rest for just a moment. Constantly moving from villages to towns to try and push the lines further towards Austria was exhausting. Once I placed my bag down on the ground, I sat and leaned back against the tree behind me. 

Observing my surrounds, I watched as some men in the 107th start up a fire. I haven't yet learned all their names since there was so many, but I knew a few. Hodge was of course reassigned here after basic training. Then there was Gabe, who controlled the transmissions that I relayed back to base. And of course, I had my own little shadow, Jimmy Mutter. 

A man walked over and kneeled on one knee next to me and I glanced at him. "Here," He held out a bottle to me. "I know you're hungry and it won't fill your stomach, but it will make the pain go away."

At the mention of food, my stomach churned at the thought on how we ran out of food just a few days ago. I took the bottle and smiled at him, looking at the jacket that he was wearing to see his rank and name. "Thank you, Sergeant Barnes."

He nodded and walked away to stand by the fire. I took a sip from the bottle and scrunched up my face in disgust at the taste. It was fool but he was right. The pain soon went away as I took another drink. I recapped the bottle and passed it along to the man next to me. 

Glancing up, I saw Sergeant Barnes shoving his hands into his coat pockets, turning his head to give me a once over before quickly looking away as he realized that I was staring at him. I shivered from the cold and pulled my jacket closer to me. Being in the forest made it feel a whole lot colder than it normally was. Leaning my head back against the trunk, I soon slipped into a deep sleep.

Suddenly, I was startled awake when a hand came down on my mouth. With my eyes wide open, I saw Jimmy staring down at me. Then I heard it; screams of horror and pain. When I let out a small whimper, he shushed me, pressing a finger to his lips.

I nodded and he gently pulled his hand away from my mouth and went to grab my hand. As he did, a bright blue light came out of nowhere and hit him. Then he was gone, disappearing right in front of my eyes. I stared at the spot, frozen in horror.

Another blue light struck the tree by my head and I snapped out of it. Grabbing my gun, I stayed low as another streak of blue light hit another tree just in front of me. I ran as fast as I could, further into the forest, before another streak hit another tree in front of me causing me to yelp. Quickly hiding behind a tree, I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood in my mouth.

Letting out a soft whimper as I glanced down my side, seeing my shirt was burned along with my skin where a blast grazed me. Pressing a hand to my mouth, I tried to hold in the sounds of pain as the sound of fighting faded and footsteps got louder.

"Ms. Donovan," My eyes widened as I heard my name echo around me. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

His footsteps got closer and I moved my head slightly around the tree to my left and saw his back was turned to me. Keeping my foot falls quiet, I moved behind another tree, further from him. "We know you're out here. Our little spy helped us with that, made sure of it. Too bad he decided to switch sides. He was quite fond of you."

My eyes widened as the man admitted that. A soy in the 107th. I frowned as I thought, he was fond of me. Jimmy, oh god. My head jerked up as a body pressed tight against mine, another hand covering my mouth.

Barnes stood, staring down at me, his smaller gun pressed against his cheek. He grabbed my hand as he shifted lightly to the right and fired a shot. The man let out a yelp and Barnes started to tug me away in the other direction. We jumped over fallen trees as we ran as quickly as we could.

Then his hand was gone as I was ripped away from it; thrown to the ground a few feet away.

I landed with a hard thud and felt my breath leave my body. I gasped out as blood oozed down my forehead, blurring my vision in my right eye. "You should have come out when I told you to." Looking up from the ground as he spoke, I saw the man aiming a gun at Barnes' head. From where I was, I noticed he was unconscious.

"Please, no," I pleased as his finger started to squeeze the trigger but let up as I pleaded. "I'll go with you. Please don't hurt him. Please." On one knee, I held up my hand towards him like he was just gonna give me the gun.

The man let out a laugh like my pleading was funny and marched over to me. He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to my feet as I let out a cry of pain. He swung back his arm and slammed the butt of the gun against the open wound on my forehead. He let go of my hair as my back slammed down on the ground; my vision starting to blur. He crouched down next to me, moving my hair away from my face. "You see, you would have come anyway. What Schmidt wants, he gets. Don't you remember that, little dove?"

* * *

"Do you remember?" My attention was brought back to the man who still kneeled next to me. The man I save from death but now caged like an animal. Sergeant Barnes. I nodded as I fully realized where I was again. "How did they find us?"

"Apparently there was a spy, Jimmy Mutter," All around me in the cages, their expressions turned to anger. "I don't know how I didn't catch onto him sooner. Guess he was using my transmissions against us."

"What do we do?" Gabe asked, helping me sit up to lean against the bars. Before I could answer, a loud bang came next to my head.

"Looky here, finally awake." Hearing that god-awful voice, I turned to see the man who captured us. He opened the door that was next to me and grabbed onto my shirt. He dragged me out before anyone could grab me from the cage.

He let go but quickly gave me a kick in the stomach. I let out a silent cry as I rolled over, clenching my stomach. He squatted down next to my face and yanked my hair causing my head to snap back. 

"You know, you were always his favorite pet. You're finally back home where you belong. He wouldn't have found you if it weren't for your father. How is he doing...oh wait, he's dead. Maybe you'll join him if you aren't being a good pet like you used to be."


	13. The Six-by-Six

That was months ago. Soon after we were captured, we were put to work. When we became too weak, we disappeared. Never to be seen again.

My eyes glanced up as heavy footsteps came towards me and what I was working on. It was a bomb of some sort. Observing the wires in my hands, I quickly yanked out one and slid it into my pocket. In doing so, caused the bomb to take longer to work on. 

Schmidt came up around my side, smirking down at me as Zola stood next to him; a clipboard permanently attached to that man's hands. As he walked around me, he knocked his foot into the back of my supporting knee, causing it to buckle. My hands grabbed ahold of something to keep upright. A few of my soldiers looked up as the sound of a few tools hit the ground, Barnes was included in them. All of them had defensive and fury in their eyes. 

"It's so nice having you back, Ms. Donovan," Schmidt said loud enough for all to hear. He leaned forward so his mouth was closer to my ear. "How's your father doing? Enjoying his six by six?"

"Go to hell." I whispered, snapping my head around to glare at him. My arms trembled as I pulled myself more upright, trying to keep my feet underneath me. My whole body hurt from the nonstop work and no food for a week. 

A hand shoved me causing me to fall over the half-made bomb. He's trying to bully me into giving up. "When are you going to give up, little dove?"

He used his nickname for me again. I hated it, so much. It made me feel small and useless which I wasn't. Glancing around the room, all the soldiers watched us. Both mine and his. Watching to see what I would do. Give up or stand my ground.

Quickly hiding my smirk, my bruised and cut up hands gripped a handle to keep myself up. I slowly turned to him and shoved myself fully to my feet. Schmidt was a little taken back when I did so. I licked my cracked, cut up lips before I spoke, "I'll give up when I'm six feet beneath the cold, solid ground next to my father."

Suddenly I was backhanded and was on the ground. Blood dripped from my mouth and nose causing me to spit it out onto the floor. Leaning on one arm, I turned so I could stare up at Schmidt. He was already staring down at me, a pleased smile on his face. I decided to anger him more by one word he hated. 

"Coward."

"Sir, no." Zola quickly placed a hand on Schmidt's chest as he moved to yank me off the floor. Schmidt shoved off his hand and glared down at me before turning and stomping away with Zola following. 

Once he was out of sight, I leaned against the table. Barnes quickly kneeled next to me, placing a hand on my cheek. "Are you alright?" He whispered as he wiped some blood away from my lip.

I nodded and he gave me a soft, sad smile. The last few months, Barnes and I grew closer while we were here.

It had begun with me making sure he was okay after he started to beat on by a certain Coronel Lohmer. A Coronel that was long gone now with the help of some strong arms and two little hands. Then after that, we bonded by quietly telling stories at night, either of family or experiences.

He rubbed his thumb over my cheek then slowly helped me up as the bell rang. Even though he was also weak from lack of food but he still managed to help me to my feet. I staggered once as we made our way back to the cells and another pair of hands grabbed my other arm, wrapping it around their head.

My head turned and Gabe nodded at me, also sadness in his eyes as he scanned my face of all the blood and bruising from Schmidt. They carefully sat me down on the ground and Bucky leaned my head up against his shoulder. His hand rubbed my back and with that, I soon fell asleep to it. 

My eyes slowly opened, and I went to rub them when something restrained my arm. My eyes shot wide open as I jerked both my arms as the straps dug deeper into them. Glancing around, I saw that I was no longer in the cells.

"Good morning, little dove. Or should I say afternoon." My head whipped around to look behind me where I saw Schmidt staring at me from where he was sitting.

"Where am I?" I questioned him. He shook his head and stood up. He moved over to me and placed a hand by my head as he leaned over me. 

"That doesn't matter now. You won't be able to even remember your own name once we're done with you," He informed me, a smug look crossing his face. He lifted his hand off the table and rubbed the back of his fingers across the cheek. "Such a pretty face. What a waste."

My jaw hardened and I quickly turned my head, clamping my teeth down on his hand. Blood slipped into my mouth as he ripped his hand away. His lips curled as he backhanded me again with the same hand I bit. The side of my head slammed against the table and it started to throb.

"Sir!" Zola's voice reached my ears over the pounding in my head. Two hands grabbed both side of my head and righted it for me to look at him. Zola held a concerned look in his eyes as he stared down at me before turning to Schmidt.

"Strap her head down. Don't need a repeat of that." He huffed as he reached over and ripped off a piece of my already torn shirt by my stomach. He wrapped it around my hand before walking off in a huff. A satisfied smirk graced my lips.

Zola did as he was ordered and strapped my head down. He even did me a favor and moved my hair out of my face before he did. He walked away from me and I heard some items being moved around before he came back over. He held a belt over my mouth, but I kept my mouth shut. "You have such a beautiful smile. Don't want to ruin it....please."

I looked away from him and opened my mouth. He placed the belt against my lower teeth, and I closed my top over it. He smoothed my cheek like my father used too and if I could jerk my head away, I would. He sighed and walked away from me again and grabbed another thing off the table.

He was next to me again and grabbed my arm, pressing a needle with a syringe into the corner of my elbow. I cried out in pain, which was muffled by the belt, as I felt whatever he put into me go up the veins in my arm and into my whole body.

Tears slipped down my cheek as I continued to cry out. He patted my arm before walking out of the room, leaving me alone. My eyes turned away from the door and up to the ceiling. Closing my eyes, I tried to forget the pain.

But it never went away.


	14. The Terror

It was a long while before the pain had finally faded, leaving a throbbing mess in my body. My face was streaked with tears as I took short, fast breaths. Jerking my arms to try to loosen up the straps, when suddenly, my right arm was in the air, free.

I stared at it in shock as multiple trails of blood slithered down my arm like a snake. Not caring about the pain that strap had caused, I quickly reached over and undid the other one. Taking the belt out of my hand, I untied the straps at my head and ankles. 

Turning on the table, I slid down and my feet quietly hit the floor. Tripping on my own two feet, I ran to the doorway ad checked for any guards while I held my bleeding arm close to my chest. I waited for a few seconds before dashing down the hall and stopped at a corner. Feet slamming against the ground neared me causing me to flatten myself against the wall as they passed, not noticing me. 

Once they turned the other corner, I made a run for it down the corridor and as I did, I slammed into a hard chest. Two hands instantly grabbed my arms and I noticed the black gloves of a Hydra uniform. Before he could do anything, my knee came up and hit him in the groin and he groaned. I slammed my fist into his nose, and he went down hard. Grabbing his gun off his belt, I continued down the hall then to my left.

Making it to a door, I peeked up through the glass. A guard stood there and I knocked firmly on the door. The door opened and I grabbed the guard's head and slammed the door on his head. He went to the ground and I stepped over him. Running down the hall, a loud bang echoed in the small hallway.

The gun in my hand fell to the ground as it came up to rest over my chest. Glancing down, blood seeped onto my shirt and onto my hand. My body went slack as my eyes rolled to the back of my head, my mind going black as soon as it hit the ground.

My eyes shot open as my chest ached where the bullet entered and exited my body but when I went to cover the spot, they were stopped by the straps.

"I'm ending this. It's isn't working." Schmidt's voice reached my ears as footsteps came closer to me.

"Sir, no. It needs time." Zola pleaded as Schmidt appeared in my view. He had his head over mine, so he was looking down in my eyes.

"It's been long enough." Schmidt told him. A cold object pressed against my temple and when my eyes flickered to the side, a relieved sigh sounded in my head. A gun, quick and easy. My eyes closed as my ears started to ring as the bullet ripped through my skull and into my brain. 

My eyes shot open again but this time, the pressure is where the bullet went through my skull. No, no, please. Make it stop. Please. I pleaded to myself and the universe. Please, make it stop.

Without realizing, I was sitting up and rubbing my temples. Glancing around confused on why I wasn't tied up, I slipped off the table and ran to hide behind a small tray that held some scalpels. Footsteps entered the room and I slowly reached up and grabbed one off the tray. Once the footsteps neared me, I jumped up and wrapped my arm around the person's neck.

"Do what I say, or I'll kill you." I hissed into Zola's ear. The clipboard in his hands clattered to the floor. 

"Okay," He agreed once he knew that I held one of his scalpels to his throat. "What do you want?"

"I want out of here. Now!" I ordered and his head moved up and down quite quickly. I shoved him forward slightly and he started to walk. He led me down a few hallways and I noticed a flag that we somehow passed three times. 

Grabbing his shirt with my other hand, I clenched it and harshly threw him against the wall. I dug the scalpel into his neck a little as blood started to come to the surface and bead up. "Please don't!"

"Why shouldn't I?" I hissed at him as I got in his face. "You've been leading me around in circles. Did you not think I wouldn't notice?"

"I'm sorry, please," He pleaded as my hand came down next to his head. "I'll take you the right way."

My eyebrow raised as his voice got higher in fear. Good, it what he deserves. Fear. "Last chance."

When he nodded, I grabbed his shirt again and jerked him back in front of me. He led me back to the flag but instead of taking a left like he did three times; he took a right. He took me to a door and opened it to what I called the pit. My soldiers and I worked machines down there as his soldiers watched and messed with them for fun. "Don't even think about it."

He nodded in response and we walked across the catwalk to another door. I looked around and noticed a few guards on some of the other catwalks, watching down below. My eyebrows scrunched together as Zola opened the door and we went into more hallways.

He finally stopped once we stepped into what appeared as a control room. He pointed to a door that was across the room.

"Take the elevator up and you'll be on the edge of the forest. No guards should be around that part of the area." Zola admitted to me as I forced him into a chair. 

Sticking the scalpel in my back pocket, I grabbed the sleeves of his lab coat. Jerking them towards me, I wrapped them around the bars on the chair and tied them together. Since he liked to have all the buttons of his lab coat buttoned, he was trapped.

I walked around the chair and noticed blood on his coat as the cut on his neck started to dry up. His eyes flickered to something behind me and I jerked around to see Schmidt standing there in the doorway. 

He came charging at me and I grabbed the scalpel out of my back pocket. I swung it at his stomach as he got close enough to me. He stepped back causing it to miss and he smacked it out of my hand. He grabbed my arm with the other hand causing him to be turned slightly. I punched him in the face when his head turned back towards me.

He let go of my wrist and I kicked him in the stomach, forcing him away from me. His feet slid against the floor as he did as I went after the scalpel on the floor. He managed to grab ahold of my hips and lifted me off my feet, flinging me into the control board.

My body slammed against the control panel and tumbled to the ground. Glass stuck to my skin as I landed on the ground. Reaching up, I grabbed ahold of Zola's pant leg and got myself up and behind him. I ducked behind him as the scalpel came flying at my head, lodging itself in the wall behind me. 

Schmidt shoved Zola and the chair out of his way as I went for the scalpel in the wall. I managed to get a hold of it as he slammed his body into mine. I bounced off the wall and hit the ground again, my hand managing to hold onto the scalpel with a death grip.

"Never know when to give up, little dove." Schmidt commented as he kicked me in the side. I swung my arm at his leg and nicked it before he moved it away.

He kicked my hand with his other foot and the scalpel slid across the floor. Schmidt reaches down and grabbed ahold of my shirt, lifting me up off my back. "When are you going to quit?"

I smirked up at him, showing him my bloody teeth. A confused look crossed his face before I head butted him. His head snapped back, and I brought my leg up, kicking him in the groin. He dropped me and I landed on my feet, quickly scrambling towards the scalpel.

Once I had it in my hands, I made the mistake by standing up with my back facing him. A hand grasped my wrist and jerked my hand over. Lips pressed against my ear as I stood there, shocked. 

"You should have given up when you had the chance." He whispered as every beat of my heart sent blood spurting out of my arteries and onto the floor. The hand holding my shirt loosened and I fell to the ground, straight into the puddle of my own blood.

I didn't want my eyes to open this time, but they did. Once they did, they took in Zola was standing next to me, just staring me down.

"Please," I pleaded out. "No more, please. Please."

"I'm sorry." He whispered before injecting something else in my arm. My eyes slowly closed as the pain rushed up my arm again.


	15. The Damned

My eyes opened again but this time, I was lying in the middle of the pit on the floor. Pressing my hand to the nonexistent wound on my neck that I thought was there. I sat up and looked around.

Not a single soul was around. Not one sound reached my ears. 

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion before standing to my feet. Glancing around again, still not one soul around. My eyes flickered up to the door that led to the way out. I raced to the stairs and climbed them rather quickly.

Without a thought, I ripped open the door and ran down the halls until I got into the control room. My dead body in a puddle of my own blood flashed before my eyes as I entered the room. I shook my head and went to the door. I pressed the 'G' and the doors closed and took me up.

Once I got to the top, a car sat there with the keys on the seat. I jumped in and started the car, a map pulled up on a screen. A blinking red dot apparently was me and I managed to find my way back to the base, which I floored all the way there.

Jerking to a stop once I hit the pole that blocked off the base from vehicles. Getting out, I ran to the middle where I jerked to a standstill, tears coming to my eyes.

Piles of bodies laid against each other. Some in rows and some just in piles. One body had my knees weakening at it. I walked towards her and once I made it to her, my knees buckled, hitting the ground next to her hand. 

My hand grabbed hers as the other reached up and smoothed back her hair the way she always wore it. A bullet wound to the back of her head is what had killed her, but she looked at peace.

I wiped away a smudge of dirt on her face and laid down next to her, turning my body to face her. Clenching her hand to my chest, I closed my eyes. A tear fell and hit the ground as I whispered to no one. "I give up. I give up."

"Grace. Come on, Grace." A voice reached my ears as my eyes opened to the sound of it. She was still in front of me and I still held her hand. "Can you hear me?"

My shoulder moved as if someone was shaking it. Like someone was trying to wake me up from a snap. "Grace."

Looking up, I noticed that the dark, grey sky was fading away before coming back into focus. The shoving of my shoulder turned harsh as I recognized the voice talking to me. The grey sky slowly disappeared, and my eyes focused on blonde hair and striking blue eyes.

"Grace." My eyes blinked as they finally took in what was in front of me. Steve stood over me as his hand shook my shoulder again. My hand reached up, trembling slightly as I did. His face was warm against my palm, not cold like hers.

"Are you....real? Are you really here?" I whispered out, not believing he was real. My brain tried to wrap around if this was another trick or if it was real.

"I'm real, Grace." He told me, his head nodding in my hand.

I didn't quite believe him. I mean, I didn't know if this was real or not. I really hope it was. Nodding as he reached down to my legs, my hand falling from his face. He lifted my upper half up and my hands clenched his arms as he did.

HIs lips touched my ear as he placed my feet on the floor, him holding all my weight against his chest. "Can you walk?"

Could I walk? I quite didn't know so I just nodded anyway, and his arms loosened to where I had to support my own weight with my own two legs. His hands smoothed down my arms to grab ahold of my hands.

"Come on." He said as he started to pull me out of the room. My knees buckled a little as he picked up the pace, seeming to be searching for something.

With his back to me, I finally was able to take him in for the first time in months. He had changed but in a good way. The gear he had strapped on to his chest and thighs made him look like a soldier, instead of a dancing monkey that Senator Brandt turned him into. He had become a soldier, but a better man. 

His hand tightened around mine as we rounded a corner and I came to a halt as did Steve. Zola stood down in the doorway, staring down the hall at us. Well, mostly at me. He quickly turned and sprinted down the other end of the hall as Steve ran after him; stopping at the doorway he was at. An alarm blared in my ear as I walked to the doorway and heard a voice other than Steve's.

"Sergeant 32557 Barnes." Bucky's voice carried out to the hall as I stood at the doorway, looking in.

"Bucky, oh my god." He reached down at Bucky's feet and ripped off the straps and did the same with the one over his chest. Bucky turned his head to look at Steve as I watched their reunion. "It's me. It's Steve."

"Steve." Bucky's voice came out slow and slurred.

"Come on." Steve pulled Bucky up by his arms and to his feet, holding him steady until he was good on his own. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were smaller." Bucky responded as he observed him and noticed me in the doorway. "Grace."

Another crash came from down the hall and I looked down it to see some smoke forming up around the ceiling. When I looked back at Steve and Bucky, Steve was half carrying and half dragging Bucky towards me as Bucky spoke again. "What happened to you?"

"I joined the army." Steve answered as we got out of the room. He let Bucky go as he pushed him away to walk on his own.

"Did it hurt?"

"A little." Steve responded as he took another corner. 

"Is it permanent?"

"So far." I whispered to myself, but Steve glanced at me once he heard me. We turned into another hallway where Steve yanked open a door. We made it to a catwalk when more loud explosions echoed throughout the building. Smoke filtered up from the pit as we ran up some stairs. 

"Captain America!" Schmidt's voice called out to us. My body froze in fear from hearing. This isn't real. It can't be. It just can't. "How exciting. I'm a great fan of your films. So, Dr. Erskine managed it after all. Not exactly an improvement but still impressive."

My eyes flickered over to Zola who stood on the other side of the catwalk. My jaw hardened once I realized that he was already staring at me. His eyes flickering between Bucky and I; a hidden smile inside his eyes as he did. 

Bucky placed his hands on the railing and leaned against it. In doing so, half of his body shielded mine from Zola's eyes. Reaching up, I pressed a hand to his back and he slightly tensed at the contact. He relaxed slightly when my hand closed into a fist, his shirt balling up in it. My other had gone around his waist, gripping onto his shirt at his stomach. His body felt warm, a little too warm. 

This isn't real. Not real.

"You got no idea." Steve's voice brought me out of my wandering mind as he swung his fist and hit Schmidt in the jaw.

"Haven't I?" Schmidt growled in response. Steve held up the shield to block the punch Schmidt threw. He reached for the gun on his thigh, but Schmidt got another hit in. Steve fell back and kicked Schmidt as he walked towards him. He went flying back and suddenly they were being separated as the catwalk split into two. 

"No matter what lies Dr. Erskine told you. You see, I was his greatest success." Schmidt yelled over to us. He reached up and yanked off a mask, showing his skull that had turned red from the unfinished serum he took.

"You don't have one of those, do you?" Bucky asked, shocked like the rest of us.

"You are deluded, Captain! You pretend to be a simple soldier but it ain't reality. You're just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind. Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Don't fear." Schmidt told Steve as he walked into an elevator.

"Then how come you're running?" Steve yelled back but Schmidt didn't answer as the door closed in front of him. I jumped as another explosion went off. "Come on, let's go."

Steve led Bucky and I up the stairs and onto the catwalk above us. He stopped at a huge piece of metal that led from our side to the other side. Steve turned to Bucky. "Let's go. One at a time."

Bucky climbed over the railing first and slowly made his way across the beam without any problems. Steve turned to me once he knew Bucky was safely across. Placing my hands on the railing, Steve held my hips as he helped me up and over it. 

His hand slid down my arm as I slowly started to walk on the beam. The metal groaned from under my weight as I made it to the middle. On the other side, Bucky held out his hand for me to take once I got close enough. I could feel the heat of the flames touching my legs as Bucky urged me closer with his hand. 

The metal groaned again and started to creak. I hurried closer to him and once I grasped his hand, the metal dropped from underneath me. I screamed as my body slammed against the bottom of the catwalk and a flash of pain shot through my ribs. Bucky's tightened in mine as his other hand grabbed onto my arm. 

Pain. I felt pain.

This was real, so very real. 

"Grab onto the railing." Bucky ordered, snapping me out of my trance and I did just that. I pulled myself up as he helped. He let one hand go and wrapped it around my waist as he pulled me over the railing.

Placing me on to the ground by his feet, he turned back to Steve, who was stuck on the other side. I looked down at the pit and felt some sort of relief. This was real and I just about died to prove that. "There's got to be a rope or something."

"Just go," Steve waved his arm. "Get out of here!"

"NO! NO! Not without you!" Bucky hollered as he slammed his hand down on the railing. Desperation laced in his voice.

Steve shook his head before looking around. He pushed a piece of pipe out before backing up as far as he could. He cocked his head slightly before sprinting towards us. He jumped as a loud explosion went off in front of our faces. 

I covered my head with my arms as I felt a few pieces of debris hit me. Glancing up, Steve hung from the railing and was pulling himself up and over. He leaned down and picked me up before he quickly got out of there, Bucky not lagging too far behind. 


	16. The Returned

The sun shined down on me as I sat up top of a Hydra truck that we were bringing back to camp. Some men glanced over at me as I continued to stare behind us, confused looks on their faces. 

Some of them had been in the pit, working along side me. Had watched helplessly as Schmidt did his best to make me summit. To give in. 

The truck came to a stop and the men slid down off the truck, but I stayed where I was. Watching. Waiting for him to come over that hill. Waiting for him to bring me back to where he assumed I belonged. 

My eyes closed as the wind picked up a little, caressing my face as it did. All I could see behind them were rows and piles of bodies. I knew now that it wasn't real, but it had felt like it. 

"Hey! Let's hear it for Captain America!" Bucky's voice had me opening my eyes, searching him out in the crowd. When I couldn't find him, my head turned back towards the hill as the sound of clapping filled my ears. 

"Are you going to come down from there, soldier?" Her voice reached me from down below. My eyes closed again, seeing her laying there. 

Lifeless and cold.

This is real, I told myself. This is real. 

My thumb pressed down onto my palm and a small ounce of pain ran through it from my nail. See, real. She's real. 

Slowly getting down, I turned to face her. No bullet hole in her head. Not a single spec of dirt covered her face. I weaved my arms around her middle and hugged her tight. Her arms came around my shoulders not a moment later. 

Peggy didn't question why she felt a tear touch her bare skin. She wanted to know but she also didn't. Her hand smoothed my hair down as she just held me, knowing that I probably went through some horrors that nobody could speak of.

_"No! Let me go!" A child's voice reached my ears._

_Opening my eyes, I noticed first that I was in a hallway. The next thing I noticed was that I was in a white dress and my feet were bare. My eyebrows came together, confused until I heard another set of screams from the same voice._

_"Please! No! AHHHHH!" The young child's voice screamed before the crying echoed down the hall to me. Slowly walking towards the cries, I reached the door to where they were the loudest._

_C29._

_No, no, please. Not this. Not this place._

_I knew this number. I recognized this door from anywhere. I knew so much about this room, all its secrets. Inside and out._

_Reaching up to slowly trace the nine on the door, more whimpers came from inside and I knew what they were from. My hand clasped the knob of the door and I shoved open the door to meet the eyes that I investigated every morning in the mirror._

_My young self was strapped to a table, my breath coming out in a gust of mist. Noticing my own breathe coming out the same as my body noticed the freezing temperature hit me at the same time. Suddenly I was no longer staring at my young self but at the door._

_At the door where I had been standing was the person I hated most in this world._

_Schmidt._

_He held up a syringe in the air as he made his way over to me._

_"No, please. I'll behave, I promise." I cried as he stuck the needle into my arm and the pain shot up my arm causing me to cry._

_"No, you won't, little dove."_

I screamed as I shot up into a sitting position. My nails clawed at my chest and throat as I tried to get the searing pain to go away, not even realizing my own blood started to cover the tips. 

"Grace, stop!" A voice echoed in my ears as I continued to claw at my own skin. "Grace!" A sharp sting across my face caused me to snap out of my daze. Glancing down at my bloody, trembling hands, my watery eyes caught of Peggy sitting in front of me on the bed. 

"Pegs?" I whimpered out as I stared back down at my bloody hands. Hands grasped my face and I instantly flinched back. 

"It's okay. It's okay, Gracie." Peggy cooed as she brought me slowly into her arms. My hands continued to trembled as she held me to her chest. "You're okay. I have you. You're here, with me."


	17. The Nerves

The gauges on my chest itched as they rubbed the claw marks underneath them. Reaching up, I watched Peggy as I slowly rubbed the bandage.

"Don't," Peggy snapped her head over to me as she saw me do it out of the corner of her eye. She stopped me and moved my hand as she peeled back the top of my dress slightly. "You're causing it to bleed, stop it."

I nodded as she led me into a bar. When we walked in, everyone turned once they noticed us; the music stopping. Some eyes glanced over my face, over the bruises I knew were still visible through the makeup Peggy had done, but they went lower to the bandages on my throat and chest; but their eyes stopped at the baby blue dress I was wearing.

It felt weird wearing this dress again. Knowing that it was a gift should have made me feel somewhat normal, but it didn't. 

Some of the men stared at Peggy who was wearing her red stunner dress. Ahead of us, Bucky and Steve leaned back once the singing and music stopped, standing up once they saw us. 

"Captain." Peggy greeted him as she nodded at Bucky. He nodded back before his eyes flickered to the bandages on me, his eyes filling with sadness.

"Agent Carter, Grace." Steve responded, his eyes quickly noticing the bandages as well. Reaching up to rub them, Peggy grasped my hand before I could get to them.

Bucky nodded his head as we stopped, his eyes moving away from where my hand was to the bruises and cuts before taking in my dress. He saw that I was noticing what he was doing causing him to turn away, blushing. 

"Howard has some equipment he'd like you to try tomorrow morning." Peggy informed him of the plans for tomorrow. Fittings for uniforms, equipment checks, the fun stuff. 

"Sounds good." Steve replied with a nod. Bucky finally turned back towards me, his eyes flickering to Steve then back to me. 

Something flickered by my hand and I noticed that Bucky's hand twitched as he moved closer to mine. A small smile slowly came on my face as the thought of him wanting to hold my hand. 

"I see your squad is prepping for duty." I spoke up, turning my attention to Steve. Steve turned his head to look at me, finally.

"You don't like music?" Bucky asked as he spoke for the first time, turning my attention back to him.

"I do, actually." I responded, remembering back to all the times my father danced with me in the middle of the living room when I was younger. I always stepped on his feet. He was the best teacher and I was the worst student.

"Then what are we waiting for?" He asked, smiling down at me. He held out his hand and I slowly took it. Biting my lip, he led me away from the two. He turned once we got to a small corner and slowly turned me towards his chest. 

"I have to warn you, I have two left feet." I informed him as I placed my hand on his arm. He smiled and placed his other hand at my waist.

"That's okay. You can step on my feet anytime you like." He joked causing me to let out a small laugh. The music and singing started back up and he swayed us from side to side. My feet grazed his slightly as he raised his hand, making me circle under his hand. 

He moved me back to him causing me to lean my head on his chest, him placing his chin on the top of my head. The sound of his fluttering heart had me smiling. 

He was nervous. 

He lifted his hand up again and I twirled under it slowly before pulling me back to assume our positions. From across the bar, Steve stared at us with the team around him as they chatted. Lips touched my ear as I felt Bucky's head move.

"Has he asked you?"

"He has." I answered back. He shivered a little when my breath hit his ear causing him to tighten his grip on my waist.

"What did you say?" He pushed for an answer as the tips of his fingers caressed my spine. I just smirked and placed my head back on his chest. 

Slipping my hand from his, I tucked both my arms under his, placing them on his lower back. Both of his went to my upper back, letting his fingers draw figures there. I closed my eyes as I lost myself in his heartbeat. 

* * *

Jerking up in an upright position, I let out short, fast breathes. My hands trembled as I slowly pushed myself to my feet, wrapping my blanket around me. Glancing around, I saw Peggy nowhere to be found. 

Turning to the door, I slowly opened it and slipped out of my room. Tip toeing down the hall, I grasped a doorknob that wasn't mine. Taking a quick look around to make sure no one saw me do this, I slipped into the room quietly.

Soft snoring reached me as I carefully closed the door. Turning to the bed, I tip toed over to it before slowly reaching out to touch the arm that was peeking out from underneath the sheets.

"Bucky?" I whispered. His eyes shot open and his hands grabbed my arms, yanking me down on the bed. He was suddenly kneeling over me, his arms holding down my shoulders. The bandages straining against my skin, rubbing against the claw marks. 

"Grace?" He leaned back, letting go of my shoulders and putting most of weight on his knees, still sitting on top of me. "What are you doing in here?" He slowly moved off me and pulled me into a sitting position.

"It was a mistake. I'll go back to my room." I whispered as I shot up and quickly ran to the door. I barely had it open when it slammed shut. I gasped as I could feel Bucky standing so close behind me. 

"Grace, why did you come here?" He asked again. My shoulders shook as I let out a silent whimper. His hands slowly came on my arms, turning me towards him as tears slipped down my face. His expression quickly changed. "Grace."

He leaned down, picking me up bridal style before walking back to his bed. Moving the sheet back, he placed me down carefully before climbing in next to me. Wrapping me up in his arms, he leaned my head against his chest. "Will you tell me?"

I shook my head at his question. He didn't need to know the horrors that I grew up with. I didn't want to add to his own. Burying my face into his chest, his arms tightened around me. "Do you just want me to hold you?"

"Please."


	18. The Anger

My heels clicked against the floor as I quickly made my way past Bucky's room, searching for Steve and Howard. I've never ducked out of a place faster than I did from his room this morning. I felt horrible for disturbing him of his sleep, but I didn't want to face the consequences so I quickly got out early this morning. 

Glancing down at my watch, it said five past eight. Where are they? Turning a corner, I ran directly into a hard chest. I gasped as my mind went straight back to what happened in the factory but the pain from the claw marks made me remember that it wasn't real.

"Grace? Are you okay?" Looking up, Howard's concerned face observed mine. I stepped back and rubbed at the bandages on my chest. 

"Um...yeah, I'm okay. I was just looking for the both of you." I said as I noticed Steve was giving me a look about me rubbing the bandages. Howard nodded and placed a hand on the small of my back to get me to walk with them.

"As I was saying, fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend." Howard commented, glancing back at Steve. We stepped through a doorway and I noticed a motorbike that Steve had requested up on a table being worked on.

"Really? I didn't think...." Steve trailed off, his eyebrows coming together in confusion.

"Nor should you, pal. The moment you think you know what's going on in a woman's head, it's the moment you know your goose is truly cooked. Now this one," Howard paused, pointing at me. "She's a whole lot tougher to crack. Me, I concentrate on work. Which now is about making sure you and your men don't get killed."

Howard paused as Steve felt up a piece of fabric that he had laid out earlier. "Carbon Polymer. Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although Hydra's not gonna attack you with a pocket-knife. I hear you're uh, kind of of attached."

"It's handier than you might think." Steve said as he touched the damaged shield that Howard's knuckles knocked on.

"I took the liberty and came up with some options. This one's fun," Howard commented as he pointed out the ugly one. I shook my head, no. He gave me a shrug. "She's being fitted with electrical relays. It will allow-,"

"What about this one?" Steve interrupted him, reaching for the one that Howard placed under the table after I handed it to him earlier on this morning. 

"No, no, no. That's a prototype." Howard quickly said as Steve pulled it out to hold it in front of him. 

"What's it made of?" He asked, running his thumb over the edge of the disk.

"Vibranium. It's stronger than steel and the third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent." Howard explained. As he did, Steve slid his arm into the straps and flecked his arm, getting used to the feel of the them.

"How come it's not standard issue?" Steve asked him, turning his attention back to Howard. 

Howard shoved his hand into his pockets before speaking. "That's the rarest metal on Earth. What you're holding there is all she got." He flicked his head towards me. Steve glanced at me, confused.

"I have amazing persuasion skills and a good smile." I commented, flashing them both a smirk. Howard shuffled a laugh, covering his smile with his hand as Steve's face hardened. 

"You stole this?" His voice came out a little hard, full of authority. I rolled my eyes at it. 

"No....well....no." I paused as I thought back. "Yeah, no. I just have amazing persuasion skills and a good smile."

"Are you quite finished, Mr. Stark? Sure, the Captain has some unfinished business." Peggy said as she came around a corner and into the room. Steve turned to face her as I walked over to her, taking note of the furious expression on her face.

"What do you think?" Steve asked her, smiling like a kid in a candy store who was getting his first ever piece of chocolate.

Peggy glanced pass me and picked up one of the guns off the table next to me. She pointed it at Steve and started firing at him. Howard jumped behind the table he was standing by as Steve quickly ducked behind the shield as she shot off most of the rounds in the chamber. Once she was done, Steve and Howard looked up, frightened. 

"Yes, I think it works." Peggy said, putting the gun down and walked away. I went to follow her and almost caught up before two hands grabbed my waist, yanking me into a room.

I let out a yelp as the door closed, leaving me in complete darkness. A light flicked on causing me to be blinded for a second, but I quickly made out the face of Bucky Barnes standing in front of me in the tiny closet. 

Oh, no. He looks quite angry.

"Where did you go this morning?" He quickly questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because I remember falling asleep with you, in my arms and when I woke up, you were gone. So..."

I licked my lips before trying to reach for the door handle. He grabbed my wrist a little too harshly and moved it away from the handle. He leaned his back against the door, keeping me trapped in here until I answer his questions. "No, I wanna know, Grace. I deserve to know, don't I?"

"I didn't want people to know." I admitted, reaching up to rub at the bandages. He quickly grasped my writ again but more gently this time. Observing his face, hurt had passed across it before it quickly went away. 

"I understand. You're respected in the community, I'm not. I completely understand." He whispered, keeping his eyes on my fingers as he played with them. I obviously hurt him with my words but I wasn't what I meant. 

"That's not why I snuck out," I added on but his glaze didn't move from my fingers. "It's not really acceptable for two people who are unwed to be in each other's rooms all night. People like to talk and I didn't want that."

"They already talk." He commented, his eyebrow raising slightly. I sighed as I realized that he was completely right.

"I didn't want to hurt you." I whispered, admitting to him. "I'm too damaged."

That caused him to finally turn his eyes back to me, a frown gracing his face. "And you don't think I am?" I shook my head as he paused. "I don't know everything that has hurt you. I don't know what caused you to do this."

He reached up with his other hand and carefully rubbed his thumb over the bandages. "All I know is what you have told me. It's not much but it's enough to know that I wanna know you more. I wanna know why you did this. I wanna know what causes this, to help prevent it. I wanna know everything about you if you let me? Will? Let me?"

I shook my head and his head dropped to my shoulder as his arms encircled my waist. Tears came to my eyes as I thought about telling him everything. About all the nightmares, about my past, about everything little thing, but I couldn't. 

"I can't." I whispered out as my head turned to lean on his shoulder. A few tears slipped down my cheeks and onto his shirt as he pulled back, his hair falling onto his forehead. Reaching up, he placed his hands on my cheeks, rubbing them with his thumbs as he gave me a little smile. 

"I know but that won't stop me from trying."


	19. The Shield

"God dang it, Grace. That one hurt!" Steve yelled at me from across the fire. Bucky laughed from his seat next to me causing me to turn to him, a small smile appearing on my face. We just completed our first mission, destroying a factory and we were trying to help Steve learn how to use that shield of his.

"Got to get ahead of it, Steve." Bucky yelled at him. I chucked another rock as he yelled, realizing that Steve was distracted. 

"He didn't notice it until the very last second. He tried to block it with his shield, but he didn't quite get it up fast enough. The rock cracked him right in the neck. He let out a groan of pain as he choked a little. The shield fell from his hand as he put both hands up to his throat. He glanced up and glared at me. I shrugged as I said, "Sorry."

"Again." Steve said after he was able to catch his breathe. He picked up his shield and stared at Bucky and I across the fire, probably wondering which one of us was gonna throw it. Turning back to Bucky, I handed over the rock.

"You're turn." My fingertips grazed the palm of his hand as I placed the rock in it. His fingers closed around mine before I dragged my hand away from his. He was doing this more since that day, being more affectionate.

He threw the rock up and down a few times before chucking it at Steve. He ducked his head behind his shield, but the rock didn't even go up in that direction. The rock hit his thigh and bounced off the muscle to the ground. I shook my head as I threw it back in annoyance.

"Steve, the shield only protects the bits of you that you actually hide behind. You got another half of you to hide also." Bucky informed him.

Steve lowered his shield and shrugged his arms out like he saying, 'what do you want me to do?'

"Try crouching your whole body behind it." Dum Dum suggested as he sat down on the other side of me. I picked up another rock and looked at Bucky. He nodded and we both chucked them at different parts of him. He did what Dum Dum suggested and crouched his body behind the shield. We all bust out laughing as he landed on his back instead of his feet.

"Did you get hit?" I shouted at him. I saw his head shaking from where I was sitting. I shrugged and grabbed another rock that was in the pile at my feet. I cocked my hand back and threw it in his direction. It bounced off his cheek and I gasped, my hand coming up to cover my mouth in shock. 

His head jerked to the side from the impact and reaction, "Grace, now that one really hurt!"

* * *

I leaned against a tree and watched the next factory we were going to take down. A few guards conversated as they watched the forest around them. They looked in my general direction and I quickly hide behind the tree I was standing behind. 

I counted a few seconds before I slowly moved back out to watch them. Their backs were turned to me and suddenly a flying disk that was painted blue and red coming towards them. 

It missed them by a mile. 

They watched it go past them and bounce off a tree. The shield came hurdling towards me and I quickly ducked before it hit me. It landed on the ground behind me and I looked back up at the guards.

They still had their backs turned from me and staring at Steve with their guns raised, Steve looking like a deer in headlights. I raised my gun and shot the two guards. They went down as Bucky got to his side. Grabbing the shield, I ran towards them as the rest of the team ran into the building, weapons firing.

"How even...never mind." I trailed off before handing him the shield and running inside to help.

I added a few more sticks to the fire as I kneeled next to it. Glancing up, Steve and Bucky caught my attention. They were throwing the shield back and forth to each other. Steve threw it and Bucky sidestepped it so it could bounce off the tree; coming back towards Steve who was able to catch it.

"He's getting better." Dum Dum commented as he walked up behind me. My eyes glanced up at him as he passed. 

"Yeah, as long as he doesn't do what he did today." I whispered as I leaned back to sit on my behind. My back hit the long that Gabe set up and Dum Dum joined me against it.

We both stared over at the two as Bucky threw the shield back over to Steve. This time he couldn't catch it, but it bounced off his hands causing the edge to smack him in the face. Dum Dum and I shuffled a laugh as he rubbed his jaw.

"Got to say, it was pretty funny." Dum Dum said. I smiled at the small memory. I nodded before flickering my wrist to check the time. I ordered the two to stop what they were doing since it was time for lights out.

Steve and Bucky ran over and settled down in their spots. Telling Dum Dum goodnight, I went to my spot which Bucky had requested be by him. I laid down and covered myself with the small blanket that Bucky decided that we were sharing since it was big enough for the both of us. 

Bucky glanced over at me as I rolled closer to him as the wind picked up slightly. He lifted his arm and I shuffled closer, his arm coming down on my back. I heard a few grunts coming from the team as they all settled down. Cuddling closer to Bucky, my eyes shut as I drifted off to sleep.


	20. The Injury

Loud curses woke all of us up a few mornings later. Moving away from the comfort of Bucky's arm, I observed my surrounds before finding the source of the disturbance.

Steve stood there, jumping on one leg as he held his shin of his other leg. Next to his leg, was his shield. Everyone laughed as Steve finally dealt with his pain. He limped slightly as we all got ready for the next mission.

"....And Grace and I will go in through this door here," Steve explained as he pointed to the layout that we got from Peggy of the factory. "Bucky, you get up to this ridge here and take them out as they retreat out of the building. We get in as quietly as possible and blow it up just as fast. Got it?"

We all nodded at Steve as he gave us our orders. Bucky grazed my back as he started off towards the ridge he was told to go to. Everyone else went off in their assigned groups as Steve turned to me as he held his shield in his hand. "Ready?"

"As ever." I responded. He nodded and we started in on the facility. 

I pressed my back to the wall of the building as we got to the door and Steve did the same. He reached for the door as I got my gun ready. He quietly opened the door and I went in first, him following behind me. 

I heard a small scuffle behind me and a metal object dropping to the ground. The shield rolls past my leg as Hydra men turned to see what had made the sound and just watched. The shield rolled in a circle making a loud clung sound before I placed my foot down on top of it. "Hello boys. Fine day we're having."

They instantly drew their weapons and I grabbed the shield off the ground as they started to fire at me. Bullets bounced off it as I crouched down behind it, but I let out a shout of pain as one graze my leg. Hands grabbed me and jerked me behind a crate. 

I glared up at Steve as he grabbed his shield from my hands and walked out from behind the crate. I shot some of the men that were coming at Steve from the side and limped closer to him as more men went down. The last shot I took knocked down the last guy who came running and I turned to Steve to find he was already looking at me.

"Do you have the charge?" He asked as he held out his hand for it. I took it out of my back pocket and slammed it down in his hand. He took it and placed it against a beam. "Let's go."

He helped me limp out of the building and into the open area outside the door. He sat me down on the ground as a shot echoed out around us. A loud thud drew our attention to a Hydra man laying not far from us. Turning to Steve, he was already facing in the direction of Bucky and saluting him. I jerked my leg, kicking his ankle. "Don't do that!"

"What?" Steve asked, jerking around to me. I glanced over his shoulder to see Bucky's figure moving away from his spot to find another. 

"You just gave away his position to any Hydra men still around. Now he ahs to find a new spot." I informed him. He made an 'oh' face before helping me up. He carried me away from the building and into the safety of the group as the building went up in flames. 

"You're lucky." Gabe commented as he inspected the wound on my leg. "The bullet just grazed you. I'll disinfect it and wrap it up."

"Remind me to never be partnered with you again." I hissed in pain as I glared up at Steve who was kneeling next to me, with Bucky on the other side of me. The rest of the team watched us from the other side of the fire, not wanting to be in my war path. "And how the hell did you trip over nothing?"

"My lace came undone and I might have stepped on it." Steve explained, sheepishly. I continued to glare at him before hissing out in pain. Gripping Bucky's hand tighter as I watched Gabe pour some alcohol on the small wound. Him and Steve held down my leg as some excess blood ran down the side of my leg with the alcohol. 

"God, I hate you, Steve." I hissed at him again. He smiled along with Bucky at my comment.

"No, you don't."

_Crying echoed down the hallway as I slowly came to. My ears twitched as they picked up the sound of a gun going off and that crying turned into screaming. Slowly getting up, I made my way to where the screaming was coming from._

_"Should have just told me, little dove. Then I wouldn't have to hurt you so much." Schmidt's voice reached my ears as I got closer to the screaming._

_Suddenly a searing pain radiated from my shoulder down to my fingertips. Reaching up, my fingers felt some sort of liquid. My eyes observed my fingers as blood slowly slid down my arm then suddenly, I was staring up at Schmidt as I cowered in a corner._

_"You never listen."_

Snapping straight up from my sleep, I quickly clawed at my shoulder as I still felt the pain of the bullet that was shot into from him. Crying as I tried to stop the pain, two hands clenched onto my wrists as I continued to claw at my shoulder.

"Grace, stop!" Two voices reached my ears, but they sounded far. "Stop!"

My hands were suddenly still as my eyes came into focus. Bucky's shocked and fazed face came into view. He was breathing heavy as he continued to hold my wrists away from my chest.

"It's okay, Grace." Another hand smoothed my hair back and my eyes snapped up to see Steve kneeling next to me, the team standing behind him. All of them held the same expression on their face. Horror but also understanding.

A fear tears started to rise as Bucky gently pulled me back into his arms and held me, his hand smoothing my hair back as my head laid on his chest.


	21. The Good Things

"Got your shield?" I asked as we waited for our signal from Jim. I glanced back at him as he held it up. "Shoes doubled laced?"

He quickly looked down at his shoes then back at me. "Yes, ma'am."

"They better be." As you can see, I'm still mad about Steve getting me shot two weeks ago. Steve shuffled behind me before noticing his signal, running off into another part of the forest around the shipping factory. I laid down next to Bucky as he messed with his rifle. He glanced into his scope and gave it a slight adjustment.

"Give the kid a break. He's sorry and he's trying prove that." Bucky told me. I glanced over at him before back at the factory.

"He got me shot, Bucky. I have a right to be angry." I reminded him. He gave me a sideways look with his eyebrow raised before turning back to his scope.

"You're healing up nicely. Gabe even said that, and I've checked myself. Give the kid a break." He repeated. His finger tightened on the trigger and the gun popped as the bullet left the chamber, hitting its target who was standing in the watch tower.

"If he doesn't screw up this time, I'll give it a thought." I replied, one of my eyebrows cocking up as he took another one out in another tower. I reached over and snatched the rifle away from him, not wanting him to have all the fun.

"There's one up in the other tower." Bucky whispered in my ear. Turning the rifle, I immediately spotted him. "Now this will have a stronger kick back to it so be prepared. Focus on him and take a deep breathe before shooting."

"I'm sorry but who's the agent here?" I whispered under my breathe and he laughed slightly as he heard me. 

Taking a small breath, I fired. The gun knocked my shoulder back more than I expected but Bucky had his arm around my shoulders to prevent much of it. In the scope, I saw the man falling off the tower and onto the ground. Glancing at Bucky, I saw that he was already watching me. I looked away, blushing.

"Wasn't so hard, wasn't it?"

* * *

I shivered slightly as the cold air finally made its way into the creases of my jacket. My breathe came out in a mist as the fog in the forest picked it up. The fog managed to cover us from the view of any men that could be coming at us and the snow falling also covered most of our tracks. Bucky glanced at me for the hundredth time since we entered the forest, before turning back to watch where he was walking as we all followed Steve's footsteps.

A stick broke under my foot as I stepped over a fallen tree branch when Steve held his hand, causing us all to stop. My eyes flickered around at the trees to see if any figures stuck out against the trunks. A shot rang out and I was shoved out of the way.

A bullet hit the tree that I was standing in front of, right where my head would have been. Glancing up, a shield hit the figure in the tree who fired the bullet and they hit the ground, hard.

The body on top of me shifted off and I moved my eyes to meet Bucky's. He smiled down at me as he helped me out of the snow. I grabbed the shield as we kept moving, taking more men out who decided that hiding in trees were the best idea.

* * *

"If you hit me with that camera one more time, I'm going to break it." I hissed at the cameraman who was standing behind me, looking over my shoulder. It was the fourth time he had hit me in the shoulder with that stupid camera and I was about to smash it. Sweat dripped down his face once I had turned to him.

"Grace," Bucky's voice reached my ears as a hand grabbed my wrist, leading me away from the man. The man moved me to the other side of the car, standing across from Steve who was gesturing towards the map on the hood. I turned to look up at Bucky, my lips pursed together. His fingers rubbed over my knuckles to try and get me to calm down. "Play nice."

"I will when they leave." I grumbled to myself. A smile appeared on his face as my frustration came out in my voice. He reached up with his other hand and rubbed along my brow line, smoothing out any creases there.

Out of the corner of my eye, Steve watched us with a smile on his face as I noticed the camera picked up the affectionate gesture. Moving my head away from Bucky's hand, I continued to listen to Steve as he explained the next mission.

The fire flickered as I watched it from my seat. Staring up, the stars sparkled like diamonds in the sky. To my right, Gabe and Sam shifted in their sleep causing me to check on everyone else.

It was my turn to keep watch so that's what I was doing. Everyone had passed out from the last mission, invading a shipping factory and we were close to finding him. All these missions the last couple of months have slowly unraveled Schmidt's and Zola's plans. The closer we got to them, the closer some of us seem to get to each other. "Grace?"

My head snapped over to Bucky. He had shifted to his side to be able to look at me. He was laying down a few feet away from me and I knew it was him by how his icy blue eyes stood out in the dark night.

He pulled the blanket off him and got to his feet, slowly making his way to where I was leaning against a log. He grabbed my hand and yanked me up to my feet. 

"Where are we going?" I whispered as he started to quietly pull me away from camp. "I'm supposed to keep watch."

He shushed me as he took me to the tree line. I let out a tiny gasp as he pushed me gently against a tree, the bark scratching at the material of my jacket. I went to speak again but he placed his hand over my mouth, hushing any sounds that were about to escape.

"Don't talk," He paused as he licked his lips. He seemed nervous as his hand was slightly clammy against my lips. "I somehow can't find the words to express...how much you mean to me. Hell, you saved my life without even hardly knowing my name. I can't...um..."

He trailed off again as he let out a small, shaky breath. He rubbed the back of his hand on his forehead as he released my mouth. His hand shook as I guess his nerves got to him.

"I understand." I whispered. He peered into my eyes as I spoke. I placed a hand on his cheek and stood up on my tippy toes. My lips softly touched his check and I felt it heat up. Pulling back, his face was a deep red from how hard he was blushing.

"You understand?" He asked, unsure. I nodded, giving him a small smile. His quickly lite up as he gave me one back. "Can I..."

He gestured with his hands as I kept one hand on his chest. Knowing he wasn't gonna be able to make the first move, I grabbed his neck and pulled his head down to me. His lips crushed into mine and they instantly molded into mine. 

They were soft but slightly cracked with all the weeks of him chewing on them from nerves. My thumbs rubbed his jawline as the tips of my other four fingers felt his soft baby hair.

His hands finally moved away from the tree to the sides of my torso, clenching my jacket in his fists. He pulled away; his eyes still closed when I opened mine. We both took short, fast breathes as we tried to control our breathing. He slowly opened his eyes and I stared into them as soon as they opened.

He leaned down and placed his sweaty forehead on mine. His fingers loosened on my jacket and wrapped them around my back. My arms went around his neck and weaved my fingers into his hair. 

His head moved from my forehead down to shove his face into the crook of my left shoulder as he leaned his body into mine, causing us to lean back against the tree. I closed my eyes to savor the moment, praying it wouldn't end. 

But in my life, all good things always die in the end.


	22. The Train

Clenching my jacket closer as the cold air made its way into my jacket and onto my skin. I crossed my arms over my chest as I stared down at the tracks below. They were probably more than a hundred feet away from us and it was making my stomach drop. Steve came up next to me, doing the same. "I saw what happened last night."

"What are you talking about?" I spat out, rather quickly. He let out a small laugh and turned to give me a once over. He shook his head as he saw my defensive position, going back to observe the tracks.

"You and Bucky."

Before I could say another word, a hand smoothed over my back causing me to peer to my left. Bucky stood to the left of me, a smirk on his face. "Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?"

"Yeah, and I threw up?" Steve replied, a grimace on his face. At least he got off the topic of me and Bucky.

"This isn't payback, is it?" Bucky asked. Steve peered over my head at the wire of the zipline then back down at Bucky, a smirk coming up on his face.

"Now why would I do that?"

"We were right," We all turned to look at Gabe. "Dr. Zola is on the train. Hydra dispatcher just gave the permission to open the throttle. Wherever he's going, they need him bad."

Steve put on his helmet and Gabe handed me a pair of handles. I grabbed them from him and glanced back up at the wire. My eyes closed and sent a little prayer to my father up above that the wire would hold all our weight. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes again to find Bucky watching me. 

"Let's get going 'cause they're moving like the devil." Frenchie informed us. Turning my head, I saw the train going around a small hill. 

"We only got about a ten second window. If you miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield." Steve yelled over to all of us.

"Mind the gape." Frenchie added on.

"Better get moving, bugs." Dum Dum said from behind me.

Steve pushed himself off and a second later, Bucky followed. I tightened my grip on the bars and Dum Dum shoved me off since my feet couldn't touch the ground while holding the bars.

My arms strained with the weight of my body as the train came under my feet. The wind hit my face like a hot iron before letting go of the handle and dropped down to the train. My feet hit the top of the train and I quickly steadied myself before almost slipping off. Up ahead of me, Steve and Bucky landed and turned to make sure I got to them okay.

The three of us moved along the top of the train until we got to a latter that was closer towards the engine. Steve and Bucky got into the train first and I climbed down last. Bucky grabbed my hand when I reached out for help and pulled me in since he knew my foot couldn't reach the ledge. Once I was in, he shut the door behind me.

I walked behind Steve but in front of Bucky as we made our way through the cabin. It was too quiet. Even for a Hydra train. I moved ahead of Steve and into the next cabin when the door I just walked through closed shut. Jerking around to see Steve banging on the door, I jumped when a bullet whizzed just past my ear, hitting the door.

Turning back around, a Hydra man pointed the gun at me, ready to fire again. I ran full force at him and grabbed onto his arm, moving the gun away from my direction. Stepping up on his leg, I wrapped the other around the arm I was holding. Moving to sit on his neck, I tuck my other leg under his shoulder. And before he even realized what I had done, I forced my whole weight backwards.

He flipped behind me since he was a smaller man and I quickly let go of him before I got stuck underneath him. He landed on his back as I got to my feet. The man reached over and grasped onto my leg. He jabbed my inner leg with his fist causing me to jerk out a gun from my thigh holster and slammed it down on his head.

His head hit the ground with a thud and I moved back a few feet, keeping my gun trained on him. Just incase he decided to get up again, but he just laid there, not moving. I lowered my gun as the door opened and I ran back to the other car. Steve and Bucky turned to me with their guns raised but lowered them as they realized it was just me. 

Bucky immediately came to me, grasping my face, checking for injuries. "I'm okay." I reassured him and he nodded. A loud buzzing sound came from behind us and Steve shoved me behind him. 

The blast hit the shield causing us to bounce back like we were nothing. I landed on top of Bucky as Steve landed across from us. I kneeled as Bucky picked up the shield that landed near us, standing in front of me. "Bucky, no!"

"Fire again. Kill them now!" Zola's voice filled the cabin over the speakers. Bucky shot at the man as the man fired back.

Another blast bounced off the shield and hit the side of the train. It also sent Bucky into me and both of us out the gaping hole that the blast had caused. 

My hand managed to grasp onto a piece of metal at the very end of the broken piece of the train. Looking up, Bucky was a few feet above me. The wind wiped my hair around as Steve appeared at the opening of the train, yelling at us to hold on. He got closer to Bucky as the bar that Bucky was holding onto broke off. As he started to fall, he somehow knocked into me and my hand lost their own grip on the pipe.

A scream ripped out of my throat as my body dropped through the air. My eyes continued to stare at Steve as he and the train got smaller and smaller. 

A loud gasp came out of my lungs as my body hit the freezing cold water. The water filled my lungs and I didn't have the time to react when my head struck a rock, and everything went black.


	23. The Cell

The first thing that came to me was my hearing. A faucet was dripping somewhere near me. I started to count them in my head. I got to 113 before my finger of my right hand started to twitch. My body felt heavy, like I hadn't moved in years. After my finger moved, I noticed that my whole body was moving.

Shaking, actually.

My body was stiff because I was freezing. When I tried to open my eyes, they also felt heavy and unused. 

They slowly opened and everything was blurry for a while before they finally adjusted to focus up at the ceiling. They flickered around and that's when I noticed that I was in a cell. My head turned slightly causing me to let out a groan of pain. A sharp pain went through my neck to my head as I had turned to look out the barred door.

No guards walking constantly back and forth. No other prisoners talking or moving around. It was just silent aside from my breathing and the dripping. 

I slowly placed my hands on the ground and pushed myself into a sitting position. Something hits my shoulder in the process.

Reaching up to grab what was there, my hand circled around a metal chain. I followed it up and it ended up around my neck. Jerking on it, I let out a yelp of pain as it pressed against the wound at the bottom of my head.

I looked down and saw some loose chain around my feet and followed it along to the wall. I grabbed a hold of it and braced my feet against the wall and started to pull. My feet dug into the grooves of the wall as I pulled harder. Blood started to drip down the wall from my feet as the groove cut into the flesh of my feet. I let out a scream of pain and my legs dropped from the wall as I fell back onto my back, letting go of the chain. 

My muscles whine as I sat up, tugging my feet towards me so I could look at them. When I did that, I took in my bare legs. Reaching up, I felt the fabric of what I was wearing. It was a soft material but not one I recognized. The white of the dress had some dirt on it where I had moved around but that wasn't what got me. 

I wasn't wearing a dress when I fell from the train but that's not what had concerned me the most. It was the fact that I did survive that fall. 

I couldn't even wrap my own head around how I did. A fall from that height into an icy cold river should have killed me. Why hadn't it? Reaching up, I touched my cheek by my ear but I didn't feel the sting of the cut where my head hit the rock. It was actually healed over and now a scar remained. 

Stretching my arm out, a few bruises littered them with a few cuts here and there. A few scars that weren't there before were almost hidden by how purplish the bruises were. Pulling my legs closer to me, I also noticed the same thing but with less bruising and scarring. I reached up and started to inspect my face with my hands. 

Around my right eye, I pressed down and let out a small whimper. Bruises, along with a cut. My hands went down to my mouth and a small cut was slightly hidden in the corner of my mouth. Moving to my neck, nothing. My observation of my body told me it's been probably months since the fall because I have no broken bones which I should have if it had been a few days or weeks after the fall.

I started to examine my cell next. There was a drain in the middle of the floor and above it, was a gaping hole in the ceiling, but no stones littered the floor from it. Other than that, it was plain. The dripping near me had my ear perking up. 

Holding onto the wall, I walked to the door of the cell. The dripping had become louder. I slid my hand through two bars and slid my hand along the wall. My fingers soon curled around a corner. I stood on my tippy toes and I felt something drip on my hand. Twisting my palm upward, I felt the faucet.

I let out a small laugh of happiness. Water, I had water. But that happiness soon went away when I realized that I didn't have any food.

I brought my hand back through the bars and slid down the wall. I leaned against the bars and looked down the hall to the other cells. They looked empty from where I was sitting. Spider webs covered the corners of my cell as I started to think.

I had to be in a place that was abandon. Probably not close to civilization by the lack of footprints on the floor of the hall. Also, nobody probably knew I was alive. 

My chest started heaving as I started to go into a panic because one, I was alone, and I didn't know where I was. Two, water could run out at any moment. Three, no food. You can go only go thirty to forty day without food with water. Four, I was chained to the wall by the neck. Five, die of hyperthermia.

How the hell am I even gonna get out of here alive?

I stared up at the opening of the ceiling. The bright blue sky stared right back at me. A few birds flew by, chirping. I was in a forest; I could work with that. I yanked the chain to the barred door and started to climb it. Once I got to the top of it, I glanced at the hole, biting my lip. Shoving myself off the door, my hands grabbed onto the stone that hadn't broken off. Pulling myself up to where my head was out, the chain tightened around my neck, remind me I could only move so far. 

My eyes flickered around my surroundings. I was right. The building was surrounded by a forest area. 

I slowly loosened my arms and my body dropped the ten feet to the ground. I brought my hand up and observed the piece of stone in my hand. Pressing the end of the stone to the wall, I made two tallies. Day two.


	24. The Abyss

Rubbing the stone against the wall with little effort was what I was doing. My arm sagged back next to me as I stared up at the darkening sky. I should probably move before I got drenched. My body shivered from the coldness of the cells as the clouds darkened up more. If I get wet, it will get colder. 

The palm of my other hand rubbed my stomach as another flash shot through it. I haven't felt this hungry since I was twelve years old, alone and on the streets of New York.

My cheek twitched as a raindrop landed on it. Another one hit my cracked lips then it started to pour down on me. Quickly sitting up, I scooted myself back against the wall as my white dress clung to where it had soaked through. My hand reached for the chain and jerked it to me. 

I held it to my chest as I laid down on the floor with my back against the wall. The rain landed over top of the drain, not causing my cell to fill with water. My eyes closed and with the sound of the rain, I soon fell asleep.

* * *

"I don't understand why you keep doing that. It's not going to help you."

"Shut up!" I yelled, glaring over at him as I dug the stone into a line to make the tally more noticeable. "I know it doesn't help."

"Then why do you keep doing it?" He asked, kneeling next to me. He reached up and touched the eighteen tallies that were forever engraved into the stone. "Nobody's coming for you. So why do it?"

"You don't have to remind me. It makes me feel better." I said, sitting down and leaned against the wall, not looking at him. 

"Why does it make you feel better?" He questioned, cocking his head to the side like he's trying to figure me out, like he used to.

"It will be over soon," I paused, licking my dry and cracked lips. "I only have a few days left. A week or two, tops." He reached down and touched my cut-up hands.

A few days ago, he had watched me jump up to the hole from the barred door. Blood had seeped out of the cuts as the shark stone cut into them when I did so.

"Then why don't you end it now? Then you can be with me forever." He mumbled. 

He held out his other hand and a sharp piece of stone sat in the palm of his hand. He grabbed my hand and placed it in my palm, closing my fingers over it. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, causing me to close my eyes at the ghostly feeling of it. When I opened them again, he was gone and I was alone. Again. 

He didn't leave. He wouldn't. 

"Bucky?"

* * *

He stared down at me on the other side of the barred door, mocking me. He was leaning against the bars, his hands inside the cell, just letting them hang. "You won't be able to do it."

"Shut up!" I snapped at him before bracing myself again against the wall and pulled harder on the chain. My legs whined as I put more pressure as I let out a harsh scream as the wall gave way and the chain disconnected from the wall. Turning to him to shove it in his face, "Haaa!"

"How are you going to get out?" He asked, grabbing onto a bar and gave the door a good shake. 

The lock rattled against the latch. I held up the sharp stone he gave me seven days ago and stuck it in the lock. Jiggling it around, the lock clicked; and I shoved open the door. I stared at him as he waved his hands for me to come out, like he was saying I was finally free. 

I ran down the hall and met two double doors which I shoved through. The sight of grass and trees had tears coming to my eyes. Looking around, I saw a graveled road and I followed it. It led me to a small town and I turned to look at him. "We made it, Bucky. We're free."

I took another step and something tightened around my neck. I choked slightly before I took a step back. The small town slowly disappeared and I found myself staring at the barred door. Tears formed in my eyes as I banged my fists on the bars. 

No, no, no, no. I was free. I was finally free. We both were. I slid down the door and leaned against it for support as I sobbed into my knees. 

I thought I was finally free. 

He just stood there, watching. Waiting. Just waiting for me to do something. My body laid between his legs as he stood over me. His icy blue eyes taking me in. He shook his head and sighed. "You're just going to give up."

"No one's coming. I can't get loose. What else is there for me to do?" My voice came out weak and hoarse. I had lost all my will to get up for water the last few days. It felt like my body wasn't my own. That I was just watching myself dying from the inside out.

"Get up." He ordered, kicking my leg with the side of his foot. 

"What's the point?" I hissed back at him. My head turned away from him to stare at the barred door. "Nobody's coming."

Suddenly, he leaned down and grasped my arms. He hauled me to my feet, grabbing the chain that hung in front of me. He wrapped it around my neck a few times before walking me forward. 

The chain jerked as it tightened causing us to both stop. He placed both of my hands on the bars of the door and I curled my fingers around them. Then he shoved with all his weight on my back causing the chain to restrict my breathing. 

And I just let it happen. 

My eyes started to water from the fire that lite up in my chest. I could feel the blood vessels in the back of my eyes starting to pop. My heartbeat drowned out everything as it slammed in my ear. My head started to spin from the lack of oxygen and my vision started to get hazy. 

"Just a little longer and we'll be together forever. Like I promised." He whispered but his voice didn't reach my ears because it was inside my head. It always was. My fingers and toes started to tingle from the lack of blood flow and my body felt like. That was when another voice reached my ears. 

"She's not responding. Cut it off her, Nat!" It was a male's voice. It didn't matter what he said because I already drifted off in the abyss; where there was no pain, no suffering. 

I was just free.


	25. The Arrival of Barton

My fingers pricked at the rouge strand of fabric of the blanket that was over me as I stared at the clean, white wall that was across from me. It suddenly flickered to the dirty cell wall and my eyes quickly snapped shut, my head turning away. 

They reopened when the sound of the door clicking open had my ears twitching. Tilting my head in that direction, a man walking in wearing a black business suit, closing the door behind him. He cleared his throat and smoothed the front of his jacket down. 

A sign that he was nervous. 

"Good morning, Ms. Donovan." His calming voice washed over me, but it didn't do anywhere near calming me down like he wanted it to. 

"Where am I?" I quickly got down to the questioning. My hands gripped the gray blanket as I stared him down. He shifted nervously on his feet before leaning most of his weight on his left side. 

"You're in a recovery room in New York," He answered, clearing his throat again. My head tilted as his eyes shifted slightly to the left when he spoke. It wasn't noticeable if you weren't looking for it. "I should probably introduce myself, Agent Phil Coulson."

He moved closer to my bed and held out his hand, offering it for me to take. I stared at it like it was a foreign object that carried a deadly disease. I glanced back up at him and he quickly moved his hand away from me. He reached over to the desk area and grabbed the chair there. Placing it near the foot of the bed, he sat down after unbuttoning his jacket. 

"You said you were an agent? Are you with the SSR?" I asked, sitting up and crossing my legs. My arms folded across my chest as I did so. His eyebrows shot up at the guarded gesture. 

  
"No, ummm...I'm with an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D." He answered. My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. 

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"It stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division." He informed me. Jeez, someone really wanted to spell out shield. 

I nodded, glancing back at the window. The grayed-out buildings that stared back gave me an uneasy feeling in the bottom of my stomach. Turning back to him, "You said I'm in New York? What hospital?"

"Gracie Square." He quickly answered. 

"Address?"

"420 East 76th Street." He informed me causing me to nod.

"Upper East side of Manhattan." I mumbled. Turning my head away from him, a smirk appeared on my face as I caught onto it. A laugh suddenly escaped my mouth at the information he willingly and unwillingly gave.

"What's so funny?" He questioned me this time. I uncrossed my arms and leaned towards him; my laughter gone but the smirk stayed. 

"If you're going to lie to me, Agent Coulson, make sure you get facts straight. That address doesn't hold a hospital. So, Agent Coulson, where am I...really?" I continued to stare him down. He slowly reached up towards his jacket and I reacted. 

His hand disappeared into his jacket as I jumped out of the bed. Grabbing his wrist, I yanked his hand out of his jacket. Shoving his wrist forward, the needle went into his neck with the fluid following. He stared up at me in shock.

"Grace..." His eyes closed as his body slumped in his chair. I let go of his wrist and walked to the door. My hand twisted the knob and the door slowly opened. 

Okay, I was right. Not a hospital.

Walking into the hall, I glanced down one end and saw nobody. I jumped out of my skin when an alarm blared in my ear next to me. 

"Stop!" My head jerked to the other end of the hall and saw two men running towards me. 

I turned and sprinted down the other end of the hall. I didn't know where I was going but I just took a turn when I was about to be cornered each time. I bolted up some steps when my barefoot was grabbed. 

My body slammed down on the stairs and I glanced down. A man held my foot and he tugged it. My hands gripped the steps as I brought my other foot and slammed it down on his face. He fell back down to the ground as I continued up the stairs and out a door. 

Wind whipped my hair around as I just kept running straight. I jerked to a stop as I almost went over a ledge and into water. Turning around, my chest heaved as I saw that I was surrounded by water. I'm on the ocean. That means no way of escaping. Oh god. 

"Grace," My head jerked around at the familiar voice. A man stood a few feet from me, his arms raised in the air. A group of men stood behind him; guns raised at me. "I'm not going to hurt you."

As he said that, he took a bow off his back and placed it on the ground next to his feet. Then a set of arrows and two guns off his thighs followed. He gestured to the men and they lowered their weapons. I continued to examine him, trying to remember where I heard his voice before. Then it clicked. 

The cell.

He saved me. 

"Please, let's go back inside. Get some food in you and we'll talk. Me and you. No one else." He offered and that offer did sound too good to be true. His calm voice washed over me as he lowered his hand for me to take and that's when I noticed he was inching closer to me. 

I instantly stepped back a few inches and he immediately stopped. He licked his lips as I cocked my head at him. Slowly walking towards him, I watched him with caution. Glancing down from his face to his hand, I hesitantly rested my hand upon his. 

Suddenly he jerked me around, pressing my back to his chest. I gasped in surprise then in pain as I felt something prick my neck. I tried to struggle against him, but I slipped back under before I could. 

* * *

I hated this room more than the cell. It was too clean. I continued to glare at the wall as the door opened and from the corner of my eye, the same man from earlier entered; him carrying a tray in his hands. I immediately stiffened at the sight of him and food. 

"I brought you food, as promised," He said, placing the tray in my lap. "Also before you ask, not poisoned. See." He lifts the spoon that was filled with what looked like cereal to his mouth and took a bite. 

"You lied." I told him as he sat down on my bed causing me to move my leg before he sat on it. 

"No, I didn't. It's you and me. I brought food. We can talk. Clint Barton." He gestured to himself, trying to be a little funny but I wasn't laughing. 

"Are you going to tell me what's going on? Where I am?" I shot at him, crossing my arms. He nodded and leaned back against the metal of the foot of the bed, crossing his arms as well. 

"Well, you're on a helicarrier about a hundred miles from New York," He paused and waited for me to nod before he continued. "We found you about a month ago in an abandoned factory in Budapest. The factory was a couple miles from a nearby town."

"Where's Steve?" I quickly asked, wanting to see him. "Is he here? Bucky? Is he okay?"

"No. Bucky died when you two fell." I turned away from him as I didn't want to him to see the tears that started to fall. My heart clenched as the thought of his death. How I would never see his icy, blue eyes again. "Steve, he huh...he saved the world. In doing that, he also..."

I shook my head in disbelief. My heart officially broke at the sound of his death. Shaking my head, the information didn't quite connect with my brain yet. 

"When? When did he....?" I trailed off, not being able to finish the question.

"March of 1945." He informed me. I glanced up through the blurry tears in confusion.

"Why are you hinting like it was a long time ago? It was just months ago, wasn't it?" My lip quivered at the thought of him dead. Both of them, they just couldn't be.

"Because it was," He placed a hand on my leg, rubbing it as I cocked my head. "Grace, you went missing in January of 1945. The world thought you died when you fell from that freight car with Barnes but somehow you didn't-,"

"Get to the point, Clint." I interrupted him as I noticed he was stalling. 

"The year is 2009, Grace. You've been missing for almost seventy years."

My mind tried to make up some logic excuse not to believe him, but I couldn't. Not after what I saw. The guns were different, more advanced. The planes, also more advanced. My eyes flickered up to him as he continued to observe my reactions. 

"You said 'missing'. Why's that?" I finally choked out.

"There was no body found, along with Barnes. Everyone thought that your body got caught in the current, which no one would have survived after the fall. The whole world thought you were dead. Then all the sudden, you turn up after almost seventy years. Still as young as you were back in 1945. It raised a lot of eyebrows. There are no records of where you were, what you've been doing. That's why it's important for you to tell us that information." Clint explained. I shook my head at him as no memories came up.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember is falling. Then the next, waking up in that cell." He nodded as I explained. 

"Not a thing?" I shook my head at his question.

"Did we win?" I asked him, remembering that we were at war when I went missing. A smirk graced his face at his question.

"Yeah, we did. You kicked some ass out there." He said, his smirk turning into a smile. A small smile flickered on my face before it went away. 

"So, what now? What do I do?" I asked, gesturing to nothing. 

"Well you can go back to what you had before the war or you can become an agent again." He gave me only two options.

"I have noting to go back to. No family, no money. No Steve.....or Bucky." I whimpered out his name. 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. will provide you with everything you would need for a new life with a new identity. If you choose to do so," Clint informed me. I nodded, accepting that information. "But before you answer, there is someone who's been waiting for you."

* * *

"I knew you were still alive," She said in awe as she placed a hand on my cheek. I closed my eyes and leaned into her hand. "Haven't aged a day."

My eyes opened and I fully took her in. Her skin had become wrinkled from old age, but still soft to the touch. Her hair still styled like it was back then but now gray. Her eyes held a story, one I wished I were there to see. My eyes went around the room and it was kind of plain. A few photos here and there. Two caught my eye on the bedside. 

One of them was of my father and I before his death. We looked happy, but our eyes held a different story. One of horror and survival. Next to it was a family photo. I knew she would have had to move on. This photo showed it. "Beautiful, aren't they?"

My head turned back to her as she stared down at the picture. I smiled up at her. "They're so beautiful. You did good, Peggy."

A tear slipped down my cheek and she quickly wiped it away. She looked away from me and at the pictures across the room. I looked away from her and placed the frame I was holding back down on the table. When I glanced back at her, she had tears in her eyes, an expression of shock on her face. 

"Grace, is that really you?" She whispered; a hand raised to touch me but too scared to.

My heart sank to my stomach. They said this would happen. They said I would have only twenty minutes before this happened. I didn't believe it but now that it has happened; guess I'll start over. More tears fell down my cheeks as I grabbed her hand, gently. "I'm here, Pegs. I'm truly here."

* * *

"Is this the place, Grace?" Clint asked as he pulled up to the curb. Looking at the mossy black fence, I nodded. 

"Yes." 

"I'll just wait here. Give you a minute." Clint said as I slowly opened the door, a heeled foot stepping out. 

Slipping through the small spot in the fence, I made my way through the overgrown grass. Stopping once I reached where I was going, I kneeled. I brushed off some weeds and stared at the name. "Hi, daddy. I have so much to tell you with so little time."


	26. The Important

My head flinched to the side as the sudden sound of Clint Barton's voice in the comm in my ear as I mess with a gun. My hand reached up as he spoke again. "Grace?"

"I can hear you." I replied to his question as I cocked the gun before putting it in my thigh holster. Grabbing the flash drive off the table, I slid it into the secret compartment in the lining of my boot. 

"Now this mission is simple. Get in, get out. Get as much as you can before getting yourself killed, okay?" Clint repeated in my ear. I nodded to myself. "Extraction will be five minutes out so make sure you give them time to get to you." 

  
"In and out, got it." I repeated back to him. I took a deep breathe and slowly let it out. I can do this; I've trained hard for this. It's been six months, I got this.

"Dropping off the package in five..." Rumlow counted down as I went to the ramp. He lowered the Quinjet close enough to the ground to where I could jumped off without being injured. He quickly shielded the jet to where he couldn't be spotted. 

Slowly making my way to the edge of the forest, I caught sight of the building from the file. Two guards at the entrance, heavily armed. I cocked a brow, no problem. Sneaking my way around to the side of the building, I glanced around the corner to watch the two guards for a moment. 

They were talking to one another about something going on inside the building. One of them had their backs to me and I carefully snuck my way up behind him, keeping myself hidden by his height. Shoving the man forward, he rammed into the other man then falling to the ground. I quickly climbed up the tallest man and wrapped my legs around his throat, yanking myself down. 

I loosened my legs as he went down and kicked the other man in the face with my foot. I landed on the heels of my feet and kicked the taller man in the face as he looked up at me from the ground. 

Glancing at the other man, I saw that they both were down and out. Gently opening the door that they were guarding, I slid in and closed the door quietly.

"I'm in." I whispered into my comm to Clint. Footsteps came towards me and I pressed my back to the nearest wall. Biting my lip, the footsteps went past me and I waited for a moment for Clint to respond. 

"Okay, now just find a computer or a server. Doesn't matter which one." Clint answered, I nodded to myself as I rounded a corner. My hand stayed close to the gun on my thigh as I opened the first door on my left. 

A gun cocked from behind me as I closed the door. My body tensed up slightly as the gun touched the middle of my shoulders. "Who are you?"

I jerked my elbow back and twisted around, grabbing the man's wrist. The gun fired as I raised his arm up, away from my face. My other hand curled into a fist and jabbed it into his throat. 

He immediately started to choke on his own air as he went down to his knees. Yanking the gun from his hand, I kneed him in the face, him falling back with a thud. I shook my head at him as I stepped over his body. "Shouldn't have spoken."

A computer caught my eye and I moved over to it. Moving the mouse, the screen lit up and I placed the flash drive into the server. Pressing my hand to my ear, "Okay, it's in."

Clint led me through the process of breaking into the server, the firewall, and getting all the information onto the flash drive without being detected. My fingers stopped on the keyboard as an alarm went off, along with a red flashing light in the room. "Grace, they know you're there. Get out."

"I need another minute." I told him as the percentage moved from 85% to ninety. 

"Grace-,"

"It's almost done." I interrupted him as I stepped away from the computer. The sound of feet hitting the floor outside the room caught my attention. Looking around for another exit, I found one up top.

Ripping the flash drive from its port, I moved the chair under the vent hatch. I stepped up onto it and reached up, shoving the grate out of the way. Jumping up, I grabbed the edges and pulled myself up and into the vent. As I was putting the grate back in place, the door crashed open. Men with guns entered the room but something else caught my eye. 

A bright red star. 

"Grace, where are you?" I jumped as Clint's voice in my ear. Reaching up, I turned down the volume as his voice echoed a little into the vents. 

"I'm in the vents and I need a way out." I informed him as I came to an intersection after I started to move. 

"Okay, got you. Go left, right then straight. It will lead to the south side of the building. Rumlow's three minutes out." Clint responded and I nodded to myself and followed his directions.

Getting to the opening, I moved myself around to where I could kick out the grate. Worming my way out, my feet hit the ground as bullets struck the wall behind me. Yanking out my gun, I fired at the man who was running towards me. 

His body fell to the ground as I started to run towards the forest that I came from. An arm came out of nowhere and struck me right in the chest. My body flipped under it and I landed on my back. My breath got knocked out of me and I let out a small groan. 

"Doesn't feel nice, does it, princess?" Glancing up, one of the guards I knocked out stood above me. 

He glared down at me as he reached down, picking me up by my jacket. He lifted me up off the ground, holding me a few feet in the air. I brought my legs up and kicked in the chest. I flipped myself backwards and landed on my feet. 

The man stumbled back a few steps and I ran at him. Grabbing onto one of his arms, I managed to get a leg around his neck, but he grabbed my other leg. He tried to yank me off his shoulders but it only caused us to fall to the ground. 

My one leg tightened around his neck as he squirmed around on the ground. My fist came back and tried to connect with his jaw, but he was a lot quicker than I first predicted. He grabbed onto my wrist, causing me to lean over him. He head-butted me and my leg loosened around his neck as my body slammed back onto the ground. 

The man got to his feet as I did. He held up his fists as he started to walk towards me. I cracked my neck as he took the first swing. I ducked under it and jabbed it into his stomach. He dropped his elbow, getting me in the side of the face. He grasped my hips and lifted me up off the ground again. Once I got closer to his head, I swung my fist at his face. He dropped me back to my feet and I charged at him. My arms wrapping around his waist as I tackled him to the ground. 

"Grace, Rumlow's ready," Clint informed me in my ear. "Get to the pick-up site."

"A little busy." I replied as I swung my fists into the man's face as a few bullets whizzed past us, hitting the ground behind us. 

A hit to the upper jaw knocked his head into the ground and I quickly got up and off him. Before I even started to run, his hand caught my foot causing me to land on the ground. 

Looking back at him, blood dripped down his face as I brought my boot and slammed it down on his nose. It made a loud crunch as his head went flying back, his hand letting go of my ankle. 

Getting up from the ground, I dodged bullets as I ran into the forest. The shield dropped from the Quinjet as I got closer. The ramp was already open and I ran up it as Rumlow took off. 

"Got the package. Heading back to base." Rumlow said into his headset as I moved over to him, sitting in the seat next to him. I took out my earpiece and threw it on the controls then wiped the blood from my chin. Rumlow glanced at me as he flipped a switch over his head. "Got the drive?"

I rolled my eyes and reached down to my boot. Unzipping the secret compartment, I pulled it out and showed it to him. "Yeah, and I'm okay too. Thanks for asking."

After the briefing from the mission, I walked back to my room and carefully closed the door; not wanting to disturb any neighbors I might have. Throwing my pack onto the bed, I head for the showers. 

Looking in the mirror as the shower heated up, I unzipped my jacket then ripped off the shirt; groaning as I irritated the bruises on my skin. Quickly hopping into the shower, I moaned at the feeling of the hot water. My eyes closed as I slowly smoothed back my hair with my hands, flashes coming up from somewhere deep in my subconscious. 

_"Again." A man yelled from the outside of the arena. My head jerked to look at him when a fist came down on my left cheek. I stumbled away and turned to see who threw the punch._

_A man with long hair and dead, piercing blue eyes with a muzzle over his mouth stood before me. What caught my attention was the bright red star on his metal arm._

_He cocked his head at me before charging at me. I ducked underneath his metal arm and punched his stomach. His arms wrapped around my waist, not even affected by the punch I just threw._

_He lifted me up off my feet and slammed me down onto the ground. I landed with a groan, my eyes closing. When they opened, a foot was coming down. Quickly rolling away, I grabbed onto his pant leg, jerking it as I went. He came down with a loud thud and I straddled his waist, throwing punches at his face._

_One of his hands reached up and grabbed a hold of my hair so I turned my head and bit his wrist. His hand jerked away as I felt blood in my mouth but it came back, shoving me back off him. I rolled down his legs but got up as he did._

_"Stop!" The man ordered but the one I was fighting grabbed me from under my arm and threw me like I was a rag doll across the arena, flipping me in the process. I heard buzzing as I hit the ground then a loud thud following it._

_Looking back, I saw the man I was fighting on his knees and the other man holding something to the back of his neck. The man holding the stick turned to me, fury in his eyes. "Up, Red."_

Gasping, my eyes snapped open. My legs weakened and I grabbed onto the wall, sliding slowly to the floor. I brought my legs close to my body and hugged them. Shaking my head, I tried to determine if that was real or not. 

Part of me saying it was but other part, doesn't want it to be. 

* * *

When I was walking out of a Quinjet a few weeks later, Coulson greeted me at the entrance at the building. Glancing at him as I took my hair out of its bun, I just kept walking. "I'm going to debriefing, Coulson."

"That's not what I was going to stop you for." He said as he started to walk next to me. My head turned slightly so my eyes could glance over, I turned back to look where I was walking. 

"Then why are we having this conversation?" I asked him, rubbing my eyes in exhaustion. He grasped my arm and forced me to stop walking, turning me to look at him. He pointed a finger as his face tightened in frustration. 

"Lose the attitude." He ordered me. 

"Then tell me what you want to tell me so I can go back to my bed." I demanded from him. He sighed and forced me to start walking again. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." It was all he said. 

He led me through the halls of the New York facility until we stopped at a door. He opened it then pushed me through. Nothing was in the room except for a large metal box sitting right in the middle of the room with large pictures of grayed out buildings hanging up by the windows. 

"What is this?" I asked him and all he did was open the door and guided me through, closing it right behind me. 

The room was white and looked like it could be from the 1940's but it wasn't. There were a few things off about this room. Walking closer to the bed, I stared down at the figure that was on it. The body on the bed was one I knew. 

His blonde hair was still the same. Reaching out, my fingertips rubbed against the skin of his forearm. His skin was warm like I remembered. My other hand landed on his shoulder as I leaned over him. 

"We found him just a few days ago." Coulson's voice reached my ears. My hand brushed his hair back, so it was like the way he had it years before. The way he liked. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" I whispered as I kept pushing back since it wasn't staying in place. 

"We didn't need you distracted during the mission. It was too important." He told me. My head jerked around to observe him. He stood with his back straight, his hands folded in front of him. It was his professional stance that he used when talking to someone important or in their presence.

"He is more important to me than a mission. You should know that." I hissed at him, my hand clenching onto the shirt that was beneath it. 

"That's why we didn't tell you. We knew this. Fury knew it. That's why he ordered it." Phil replayed this information back to me. I looked away from him as a tear slipped down my cheek and it hit the shirt, turning it a dark gray.

"What's wrong with him? Why isn't he waking up?" I whimpered out as I touched Steve's face. His face didn't even flinch from the touch of my palm on his cheek.

"We don't know. We think with the ice, his brain isn't fully aware that he can wake up. He just needs time." He replied. His hand touched my back and I jerked away from it, turning around to face him.

"If he wakes up, I want to be notified the second he does. I don't care if I'm on a mission or not. He's more important than anything. He's the only family I have now. You understand me?" I hissed at him, a few tears threatening to spill over. He nodded his head, looking down at his feet. "Good, get me a mission. And fast."

* * *

_Sweat dripped down my face as I watched as the man with the metal arm fought another. My eye twitched, glancing at the female and male to my right then to the two males on my left._

_The male fighting the metal arm man kicked the man back into tempered glass. One of the doctors said something in a language that I didn't understand. Another doctor checked on the other male and the man snapped. I flinched back as he did so._

_A guard hit the male on his back and the four around me stood up. The man in charge pointed a gun at the four of them behind the man with the metal arm. The four started to attack the other guards as the man in charge led the man with the metal arm away from them._

_As they passed me, the man in charge grabbed my arm and forced me rise and walk with them. The metal arm man slammed the gated door closed and the other man let go of my arm. When I turned to face the metal arm man, he was swinging his fist-_

My whole body shot up out of bed as sweat dripped down my face. My chest rose and fell as I tried to control my breathing. Pressing my hands to my head, I sat down in the corner of the room. My head pounding as my mind went back to that faceless man in my dream. 


	27. The Young One

My leg crossed over the other as I stared down at the file in front of me. Next to it, I could see my reflection in the glass table. A few bruises and cuts littered my face from my last mission. You could say it didn't go so well. 

"Her name is Alice Morgan. She's been missing for two months and yesterday, her father received this," Glancing up from the file, I stared at the screen as the message came up. '500 million or your daughter dies.' Along with the message was a picture of the child strapped to a chair with a gun to her head. "We've located where she's being held. Agent Johnson will go in and extract her."

"Do you think he's the best choice?" Rumlow swerved his chair around to look at the leading agent conducting the briefing. I hadn't learned his name and I wasn't going to since he was one of hundreds of agents. 

"Excuse me?" The agent asked, turning to look at Rumlow from where he stood by the monitor. 

"He doesn't do well with kids. He's too aggressive with them. Thinks they are adults and can handle themselves. Agent Donovan is a better choice." Rumlow added on as he informed us all the agent's history of missions involving children. 

"No, she's not ready. Not after what happened last mission." He replied to Rumlow. My head cocked at his answer as my jaw clenched in anger. 

"Last mission wasn't her fault. You should have covered her ass like you assigned yourself for. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have lost all that information. Also, she's done what, fifty missions, some of them lasting weeks. I think she's ready." Rumlow added onto his insult of the group. The agent's jaw clenched as his eyes lit up in fury. 

"Fine." The agent sighed, giving in. He turned to look at me, anger still within his eyes. "You leave in five. Take Rumlow with you and don't fuck it up."

Once we got released, I quickly caught up to Rumlow as he walked to the Quinjet. I grabbed the elbow of his jacket, jerking him around to face me. "Why would you do that?"

"Do what?" Rumlow asked, shrugging his shoulders. His eyes flickered to the left then back to me. I let out a huff and rolled my eyes before walking past him and onto the Quinjet. When I glanced back, I swear I saw him smirking but as fast as I saw it, it vanished. 

* * *

"Dropping in five...four...three...two....go." I jumped down off the ramp as Rumlow got closer to the ground. He quickly vanished as quickly as we came. 

I weaved my way through the alleys until I got to the building holding the little girl. Getting up on a dumpster, I glanced through the window of the building. A group of men stood surrounding the girl who was sitting on a chair. 

"She hasn't shown up yet. Do you want us to take her out?" A man from the group said into a phone that he held to his ear. He nodded to himself as the other person spoke from the other side. He ended the call and turned towards the rest of the men. "No kill shots."

I frowned at what he said. No kill shots? Why?

Shaking my head, I got down from the dumpster. Sneaking my way into the building, I didn't notice one of the men had gone missing. My hand tightened around my gun as I got closer to the group. Three of them had guns in their hands, pointing down towards the floor. 

This should be easy. 

I hid behind a metal pole and took a deep breath before stepping out. The gun vibrated in my hand as I pulled the trigger. The three men went down but the last one was quicker. 

"Put it down." The man said as he held his gun to the little girl's head. Tears streamed down her face as the man stared me down. I hesitated for a second causing him to press the gun harder into her temple. 

I slowly placed the gun onto the ground and straighten, raising my hands up in surrender. He motioned me with his head for me to walk towards him and I did. My eyes flickered to the little girl as more tears streamed down her face in fear. "I'm going to get you out of here, okay baby?"

"Shut up." The man ordered. Once I got close enough, he threw the girl to the ground and grabbed one of my arms. I felt rope starting to go around my wrists as he started to speak again. "Round and round we go. Around the ele-,"

Jerking my head back, I cut him off with a head-butt. His head snapped back from the hit, his hands releasing mine. I fell to my knees as my head became foggy. I couldn't remember why I was there. What was I doing? Why was I here?

One of my hands clenched my head as the other one hit the ground, holding my upper body. Something flashed inside my head. 

A figure.

The man with that arm. The red star encasing it.

My eyes opened wide at the sudden fogginess of my brain and they flickered to a figure in front of me. A little girl stared at me in fear, tears streaks on her face. Her. That's why I was here. She was why. My hand quickly grabbed a knife from my thigh and I jerked around, throwing it. 

The man dropped the gun he was pointing at me as he stared down at his chest, where my knife was protruding from. As I stood to my feet, he collapsed to his knees before falling back with a thud. 

Leaning down over him, I ripped my knife from his chest and wiped it off on my leg before putting it away. Reaching up, I pressed my hand to my ear. "I have the package. Ready for extraction."

It was just silent. Nothing. "Rumlow?"

"Are you taking me home?" A sweet but scared voice hit my ears. My attention was drawn away from a silent Rumlow to the little girl. I smiled won at her softly before leaning down to untie her hands. 

"Yes, I'm taking you home, baby. Come on." After putting my gun away, I picked her up in my arms. Her arms wrapped around my neck as her legs went around my hips. Her head shoved its way into the side of my neck as I walked out of the building. "Rumlow, ready for extraction."

Still silence. I kept a protective hand on the back of the young girl's head as my eyes flickered around for any danger waiting for us. I smoothed down her hair as I waited for a response. "Rumlow?!"

"Two minutes out." I jumped at the sudden sound of his voice through the comm. "Good job, Donovan."

I stared down at the little girl as she stared up at me. I gave her a smile before I started to speak. "Ready to go-," My sentence was cut off by the sudden sound of a gun firing. 

"Donovan, what was that?" Rumlow asked, seconds after the gunshot. Something dripped down my hand that was on the girl's back. Lifting it up, blood dripped off my hand and to the ground. My shoulder ached in pain and that's when I realized that I forgot one. 

Whipping out my gun, I shot at the man on the roof and his body fell over the edge of the building. I sank to my knees as I laid the girl on the ground. Blood had soaked through her dress from the wound. 

I reached up to my shoulder and felt the bullet hole. The bullet had gone through my shoulder and into her chest. She gasped for breath as the Quinjet landed next to us. Wrapping her back up in my arms, I quickly carried her into it. 

"She's been shot. She's dying." I informed Rumlow as I sat in one of the seats, holding her to my chest. The Quinjet got into the air and I stared down at her. Some blood spattered on her face and I smeared it, trying to wipe it away. She took in a rugged breathe and wheezed out. 

"I...want...my...daddy."

* * *

I stared down at my hands. The blood had long since dried, leaving them tainted red even after I scrubbed them raw. Rubbing them over my jean covered legs, the door opened and Alexander Pierce, the Secretary of the World Security Council, walked in with Rumlow following. Pierce sat down in front of me and glanced down at my tainted hands. 

I knew what it meant. 

"She didn't make it, did she?" My voice came out barely above a whisper. He looked down at the ground, shaking his head. My head jerked over to Rumlow as he stared down at me. "She would have lived if he would have responded to the calls."

"She would have died anyway. You didn't keep track of all the men." Rumlow's voice came out harsh. I shot up to go at him but Pierce grabbed my wrist, stopping me. 

"There are always causalities, Grace. Sadly, she was one." Pierce reminded me. My head moved over to him as he said that. 

"She shouldn't have been."

"What happened out there?" Pierce asked me as he tried to get me to sit back down. "What caused you to lose focus?"

I sat down, rubbing my forehead. Again, the man with the metal arm appeared in my head. "They got into my head," I admitted. Pierce's eyes flickered over to Rumlow then back to me. "This man started to say something and my head started to get foggy, I couldn't remember where I was. Couldn't remember why I was there until I looked at her."

I decided to leave the man with the metal arm out. They didn't need to know that. I got up and walked to the window. The blue waters of the Potomac River didn't make me feel any better. My head cocked as I remembered something. Turning around, I saw that they both were observing me. "Why didn't you answer?"

"What?" Rumlow's eyebrows came together in confusion. I slowly walked closer to him. 

"I called for extraction three times. You didn't answer any of them until I was out of the building. Why didn't you?" I repeated. 

"Interference." He shrugged like it didn't mean anything. My head cocked further to the side as we continued to stare each other town.

"Interference?"

"Yes." He stuck with his answer. His arms moved behind his back, one hand probably holding onto his other wrist. 

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?" His shoulders tensed up as his eyes lit up with anger. "You think I didn't answer because I didn't want to? There was interference where I landed."

"And I'm calling bullshit. Wanna know how I know that? Because one of the men took a phone call. What were you really doing, Rumlow?" I accused him. 

"Grace, we went back to check his story. There was interference where he had landed." Pierce quickly stepped in, placing a hand on my arm and forced me to move away from Rumlow.

He gently placed his hand on my other shoulder and rubbed his thumbs over the exposed skin there. I licked my lips as I looked away from him. "Grace, Fury and I have decided that you need to go to the Retreat."

"No!" I jerked out of his grasp, turning away from him. Memories of that place coming up in my head. It was quiet, too lonely. "I hate that place."

"Grace, when is the last time you really slept?" He questioned. I bit my lip as I looked away from him, thinking of it. I had slept but only a few hours every few days because of all the nightmares. 

"A lot of agents don't sleep." I shot back as my defense.

"That's because they're on missions. You don't when you aren't. You really haven't since we told you about Rogers. Do you need to talk to-,"

"I'm not seeing May's ex-husband." I interrupted Pierce. I loved May but I'm not talking to her therapist ex-husband.

"Then you're going to the Retreat until you've healed. That's an order." Pierce ordered. My jaw tightened in anger. Pierce walked out and Rumlow continued to watch me. 

"What?" My voice came out a little aggressive. 

"A little advice, little dove. Take all that anger and store it away. One day, you can use it on someone who deserves it." Rumlow commented, a small smirk appearing on his face. 

I flinched at the name. Little dove. That's what made me really believe that it wasn't interference. 

"Go to hell." I hissed at him. He cocked his head at me, the smirk growing bigger. 

"Get packed. You leave in an hour."


	28. The Tesseract

I stared at Coulson as I sat on the world's most uncomfortable couch. My arms were folded in front of me and he matched me with a similar stature. Both of us waiting for the other to break. 

"How's the shoulder?" He finally broke, giving up the staring contest. He unfolded his arms and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his desk.

"I was given all clear a week ago." I told him. He nodded then cocked his head. 

"I would have thought you would have been back after the all clear." He admitted. 

Glancing around the small cabin that had become my shelter in the last month while I healed. Both mentally and physically but the man with the metal arm never left my mind or my dreams. I shrugged before looking back at the computer screen. "Kind of like it here. It's quiet."

"That's good. I like the haircut." He nodded again. I reached up and touched the collarbone length hair of mine. It was quick decision on my part one night. It went from almost butt length to now this. Bringing my attention back to the screen, I saw his hand fidget over a file that he had on his desk.

"Coulson."

"We need you back in the field. When we were searching for Steve's crash site, we came across this," A photo of a glowing blue box appeared on my screen. Next to it, it said 'The Tesseract'. "Do you know what it is?"

"I've seen it before but only for a few seconds at a time." My eyebrows scrunched together as the memories of when I saw it flashed before my eyes. "Schmidt used it to make weapons. He showed it to me to frighten me into submission. Didn't work as well as he hoped. Why you asking? Fury isn't making weapons with it, is he?"

"We have it in our possession and no, he's not. We need you and Barton to be our eyes while we work to see what it can do." He informed me. I shook my head. 

"I wouldn't do that. It's a powerful object. It could disintegrate people when paired with a weapon that can withhold its energy. With that information, still want to poke at it?" I asked him, cocking an eyebrow. I clasped my hands together as his fingers drummed on his desk. 

"That's why you will be there. If you think it's not safe to poke at it anymore, you can shut it down with three words." Coulson explained. 

I leaned back slightly as I thought about it. I shook my head, closing my eyes. My hands came up to cover my face as my head fell in defeat. Putting my hands down, I stared at Coulson. 

"Get a Quinjet here. I'll be there as soon as I can."

* * *

My feet hung as I sat on the catwalk about thirty feet up from the main area. My arms were wrapped around a metal bar, my chin resting against my hands. One of the scientists raised his hand and poke the Tesseract with a metal stick. 

"Here you go," Looking up, I grabbed the cup Clint was holding out to me. Once he handed it to me, he sat down next to me. I took a sip of the tea I requested and sighed. "What?"

"Nothing. I just have a bad feeling that Fury isn't telling me everything." I admitted. When I was at the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. building after I got the call about Steve waking up, Fury had pulled me aside and asked me about the Tesseract. Let's say, things got heated and ended with me storming out. 

"Fury doesn't tell anyone everything. You should know that by now." Clint replied, taking a sip from his cup. "What's your problem with that thing?"

"I assumed you read the file that S.H.I.E.L.D. has on me," I paused as I watched him nod. I licked my lips before continuing. 

"There once was a man who thought he was greater than mankind. He thought that the Gods left relics around the Earth, waiting for him to find. One day, he did. He used this relic to torture, to bring pain and death everywhere he went. He forced people to work on machinery that could turn a human being to dust." I stopped, a hint of my accent coming out at the beginning. 

"But he's gone. Dead." Clint reminded me. I shook my head. 

"He once threatened to insert its energy into someone. Just to see what it would do. That person was me. He wanted me to submit but I never did. That thing doesn't belong here. If they keep messing with it, it will do more than what they think it will." I turned my head away from him and to the scientists as they tried to shut the thing off, but it just turned itself back on. 

Like someone was turning it back on from somewhere else. "I suggest calling Coulson. All hell is about to break loose."

"All personal. Evacuation has been ordered. Reside to your designated vehicles for evacuation. This is not a drill." I toned out the voice as Clint and I continued to watch the Tesseract. Clint shifted next to me as the cube pulsed again.

"Talk to me, doctor." Fury's voice got my attention from the other earpiece in my ear. The listening device worked well for the distance. Selvig emerged from behind the CMS machine, a concerned look on his face.

"Director." Selvig greeted him.

"It there anything we know for certain?" Fury questioned the man, nodding towards the cube.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving, like Grace said." Selvig explained, mentioning my name. My head cocked at the sound of it. 

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury asked, turning to the doctor. 

"It's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's...misbehaving." Selvig added on. My ear twitched slightly as they walked past the device, the volume a little loud in my ear. 

"How soon until you pull the plug?" Fury asked. Like they haven't already tried. It's an energy source; you can't just shut it down. 

"She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..." Selvig trailed off, probably not wanting to think of the consequences.

"We prepared for this, doctor. Harnessing energy from space." Fury interrupted him as they walked closer to the team of other scientists. 

"We don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. Now she's throwing interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of Gamma radiation." Selvig explained to Fury like it was no big deal.

"That can be harmful. Where are Barton and Donovan?" Fury asked, glancing around. 

"The Hawk and the Sparrow? Up in their nest, as usual." Selvig said, point back and up to us. I rolled my eyes at the name. Rumlow said it once and now, apparently, it's my code name now.

"Agent Barton, Donovan, report." Fury ordered into our comms. We both got up and went down the rope and started to walk with him to the Tesseract. "I gave you two this detail so you could keep a close eye on things."

"Well I see better from a distance." Clint answered. 

"Are you seeing anything that set this thing off?" Fury questioned, pointing to the cube.

"Doctor, it's spiking again." A woman called to Selvig and he went running towards her. 

"No one's come or gone. Its oven is clean. No contacts, no IM's. If there was any tampering, sir, it isn't at this end." Clint gave him a quick report.

"At this end?" Fury asked, confused.

"The cube is a doorway into the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides if I'm correct." I added on, giving off attitude. Fury turned to say something to me for giving attitude when the ground started to rumble under our feet, stopping him. Glancing at the cube, it pulsed as it started to spark.

A beam shot across the room as a hole opened at the end of the room where we were standing. From where I was standing, I could see stars twinkling in the darken sky like I was outside, instead of in. 

Then it came pulsing back at us. 

When it came back at us, a man with a scepter stood where the hole once was. Agents with their guns raised walked towards him on both side as he observed us, his eyes locking on me. 

"Sir, please put down the spear." Fury ordered the man. My hand twitched as it neared the gun on my thigh but Fury's side-eye told me not to anger the man even more. The man's head cocked as he also noticed my hand twitching. 

The man glanced down at the scepter in his hand before he pointed it at us and a blue beam came in our direction. Clint shoved me off to the side by my shoulder as he tackled Fury to the floor. 

I landed on my side as gun fire echoed around the room. Looking up as it stopped, another beam of light slammed into the wall across from me. Standing up slowly, the man quickly turned in my direction and caught my eye. Suddenly, he was charging at me. I grabbed my gun from my thigh holster but he grasped my wrist, holding it away from his body.

"You have heart." His voice came out raspy. From up close, I could see that he was sweating and there were dark circles under his eyes. 

He lifted his scepter and pressed it to my chest. Gasping out as I heard that thing power up and I reacted. Swiping it away with my other arm, I lifted my foot and kicked him away from me. 

I fell onto my back as his feet only slid across the floor in the direction of Clint. He did the same thing to him as Clint was also trying to reach for his gun. The scepter glowed a light blue as dark, black spidery veins appeared on Clint's neck that moved up to his eyes. His eyes turned black before his irises glowed a bright blue. 

The man let Clint go as he just stood there, not defending himself at all. I watched in horror as he did the same to other men around him as Fury grabbed the cube and stuck it in a briefcase.

"Come on, come on." Fury whispered as he lifted me up off the ground and started to pull me towards the exit. 

"Please don't." We both stopped at the sound of the new man's voice. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier." Fury said as we turned to face the man. From the corner of my eye, Fury's hand tightened on the handle of the briefcase like it was his lifeline. And right now, it kind of was. 

"Of course, it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with a glorious purpose." The man introduced himself. 

"Great, another Asgardian. Like one isn't enough." I spat out. Fury gave me a small glare from the corner of his eye as Loki, as he calls himself, cocked his head at me.

"Loki? Brother of Thor?" Selvig added on as he stood up from where he was kneeling behind his monitors. Loki turned to him as he said that with an annoyed expression on his face. 

"We have no quarrel with your people." I spoke up again. Loki turned back to face me, a small smirk appearing on his face as he watched me. 

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." He stated, cocking his head again at us. Like he was examining our next moves. 

"You planning to step on us?" Fury asked before I could. Guess he didn't want me to anger him anymore than I already have. My eyes flickered to Clint as he continued to stand by Loki, not doing anything to help. 

Like he was under some kind of spell.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free." Loki uttered as he walked closer to Selvig. 

"I knew a man just like you who said the same thing, outcome didn't turn out well for him. So, what are you freeing the world of?" I admitted to Loki as he stopped next to the doctor. 

"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that in your heart, love..." He paused and turned to Selvig. The scepter glowed as the light went into Selvig and his back straightened after Loki pulled away, turning back to us. "You will know peace."

"Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing." Fury commented. I glanced up towards the ceiling; I continued to watch the energy cloud build into what would become a makeshift bomb.

"Sir, Director Fury and Donovan are stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. They both mean to bury us." Clint informed Loki as he walked over to him from the monitors, standing at his side. 

"Like the Pharaohs of Odin." Fury whispered causing me to turn my head in his direction as my ears picked up on it. 

"He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical." Selvig added onto what Clint had said, his eyes on the computer to his left. 

"Well then," Loki glanced over to Clint. Clint whipped out his gun and shot Fury before turning to me as I stared at him, waiting.

He wouldn't shoot me. He wouldn't.

His finger flicked a small switch on the side of his gun before firing at me. The bullet struck my shoulder before I could avoid it. A heavy shock wave went through my body and I collapsed onto the ground next to Fury, slightly convulsing. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Loki moving towards me as I kept shaking from the electric bullet in my shoulder. He leaned over me, a knee barely pressing against the ground. He reached out with his hand and brushed hair away from my face, his fingers grazing my cheek. "If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were a missing goddess from Asgard with that face of yours."

"Go...to....hell." I muttered to him as best as I could. His eyes hardened before he stood, still staring down at me. 

And with that, he walked away with Selvig, Clint, and maybe other agents. Fury slid over to me and ripped out the bullet from my shoulder, throwing it to the side. I gasped for breath as I tried to get it back to normal. Reaching down to my belt, I grabbed my walkie. 

"Hill, do you copy? Barton has turned," I paused as I glanced who was holding his arm. "I repeat, he has turned....and also has the Tesseract."

"Get out of here while you can, Donovan." Fury ordered as he grabbed the walkie from my hand. I nodded and he ran off in the direction that Loki went. Getting up, I took the emergency exit to the ground floor and got into the only vehicle left.

I floored it and turned a corner as the building started to rumble again. My foot pressed down harder as rubble started to hit my face. Come on, come on. The building started to collapse behind me as I made it out of the entrance. 

I slid to a hard stop as a loud explosion echoed out through the field. Looking up, a helicopter fell from the sky and crashed near me. I drove towards it as I heard agents talking in my ear about search and rescue. I stopped the truck as Fury came into my line of sight. He jumped in and he looked at me as I started to drive again. "What?"

"It's time."

* * *

Getting into his apartment was quite easy. You would think he would learn how to hide his key better nowadays. 

I moved into the dining area and saw files on the dining table. There were our files, the Howling Commandos. A small smile appeared on my face as he had left the file of Peggy open before he left.

The door to his apartment opened and I heard him moving around in the foyer. The hallway light flicked on as he stepped into the kitchen, which was in front of me. I hid in the shadows of the dining room as he turned his back to me. I watched as it quickly stiffened as he become aware that someone was in his apartment. 

"I know you're there. Come out." His voice came out hard and commanding. I slowly stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the kitchen. 

"You should really learn to hide your key better." I suggested to him and he quickly whipped around to face me. His face held many expressions from anger to sadness, but it landed on shock. 

"Grace?"

He suddenly was coming at me. His arms eloped me as he shoved me to his chest. I groaned from the sudden harsh contact, some bruises screaming but my arms immediately surrounded his neck. His warmth of his body filling my cold one. His arms had crossed over each other as he held me tightly. 

"I see that you actually missed me." I joked, trying to lighten the mood and he jerked back.

"How are you..." He trailed off, glancing down to examine me.

"I don't know but I am, that's the good thing." I told him.

"Bucky?" He asked, his eyes snapping to mine. I shook my head at his question, my ear rings hitting my neck. He slowly let me go and he leaned against the counter, his hands coming up to grip the edges. "Fury send you?"

"Yes, he wanted me to convince you to help. Said you were very uncooperative, like you always are when you don't want to do something." I admitted to him, a joking smile appearing on my face. It soon dropped once I noticed the look he was giving me. "Look, I had no idea that thing was going to be taken." 

"You shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place after what it did." He forced me to remember. A flash of the damaged train and Bucky's feet in my face flickered in my head. My eyes closed for a few seconds before they reopened, holding more fury than intended. 

"You don't think I know that, Steve?" My voice raised a few levels, it came out slightly harsh. "I tried telling them. They wouldn't listen."

"You should have tried harder. That thing killed Bucky, many more included." His jaw tightened as the vein in his neck protruded from his neck at the mention of his name. 

"You don't think I know that?" I uttered, turning my glaze away from him. "They promised that they weren't making weapons."

"And you believe them?"

"I don't know. I have no idea if they are. They haven't given me a reason to think otherwise." I explained. 

"Even though Fury doesn't tell you everything. He could be lying about not making weapons with that thing." Steve commented. I reached up and moved some hair that fell out its braid behind my ear.

"I know," I paused as I glared out the window in the kitchen. "When I woke up, the only thing I had was the clothes on my back. I had no one. I had nothing but S.H.I.E.L.D. They could be lying to me but that doesn't matter right now."

Pausing, I turned back to him. He had his arms crossed, a blank look on his face, giving nothing away. "Fury gave me this detail because I've worked personally with the Tesseract. In the hands of Loki, he would destroy everything that you helped save if he wanted too. We had that problem once and I don't want it to end in the way he wants. If you're not going to help him, help me." 

He shook his head as I was speaking. I bit my lip before trying again, "Please."


	29. The Cross Match

_The motorcycle vibrated between my legs as I watched the road over his shoulder. The metal arm man sat in front of me, my hands resting on his thighs as we waited for them to come around the curb._

_Headlights came around and it was the right car. He turned on the one headlight as they passed us and my hands tightened on his thighs as he started to follow them. Clenching my hands tighter, he sped up._

_He drove up next to the car and swerved to hit it causing to jerk away, slamming into a tree. He put a foot out on the ground for us to turn around and stopped next to the wreckage._

_He parked, facing the back of the car. I got off and went around to the passenger side as he went to the driver's side before turning away to go to the truck. Flames came out of the hood as I glanced in the car, seeing a woman staring at me._

_"Please, please." She pleaded. Her hand came out of the broken window and touched my face, her blood smearing on my face as her hand fell when I took a step back._

_Turning away from the woman who wasn't the mission, I went to the trunk as the man lifted it and opened the briefcase, seeing what we were ordered to bring back._

_The driver's door opened and the man walked around the car to the old man who was crawling out. Grabbing the briefcase, I watched as the man slammed his metal fist into the man's face as the woman in the car cried for him._

_The man let the body fall to the ground before reaching down to grab his collar. He dragged the man back into the car to make it look like an accident had occurred, like instructed._

_The man walked around the back, his metal hand reaching up to caress my face, smearing more blood onto it. He walked around to the passenger side and encircled his hand around the woman's throat. Hearing the woman choking, I noticed a camera pointing straight at us from across the way._

_Walking over to it, I pulled my gun from my thigh holster and aimed it at the camera._

I jumped awake as my body jerked into a sitting position. My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath. My whole body jumped when someone knocked on my door. 

"Ms. Donovan, the Quinjet will be landing in five." An agent said before I heard them walking away. 

I sighed and moved my blankets away from my legs. Finishing off the braid in my hair as I walked out of my room, I made it to the bridge; glancing at Fury as I went. On the runway, the Quinjet landed with Coulson and Steve walking down the ramp. 

A hand touched my arm and I saw the red hair of Natasha Romanoff. She smiled at me before it quickly went away as we walked up to them. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers." Coulson introduced them to each other as we reached them. 

"Ma'am." Steve gave her an acknowledged nod, quite awkwardly. I rolled my eyes at his awkwardness at women. Some things never change. Natasha gave him a small smirk and turned to Coulson, telling him that he was needed on the bridge. 

"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Nat added on as Coulson walked away. We moved towards the railing of the ship and Steve slipped his hands behind him. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" Steve asked, a little confused. His head turned to me and I just shrugged. I knew about them but didn't encourage.

"They're vintage, he's very proud." I added on as I noticed Dr. Bruce Banner walking around, glancing around nervously at the agents who wondered past him.

"Dr. Banner." Steve noticed him also and walked right up to him and shakes his hand. 

"Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming." Bruce said as he slowly let go of Steve's hand as he glanced at Nat and I.

"Word is you can find the cube." Steve commented, getting right to the point. I rolled my eyes at his aggressiveness. 

Bruce glanced around nervously again, messing with his hands as another group of agents moved past him. "Is that the only word on me?"

"The only word I care about." Steve answered, probably had already read up on his files and the trouble he caused. 

"It must be strange for you, all of this." Bruce gestured around at all the aircrafts and agents. 

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar." Steve uttered as they began walking with Nat and I followed behind them.

"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute." They both turned back to us as Nat spoke. "It's going to get a little hard to breathe."

After she said that, gears shifted and moved causing the two to glance around as the flight crew secured the deck.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve's eyes lit up as they flickered around in wonder. 

"Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Banner asked himself. They both moved closer to the edge of the Helicarrier as four engines lifted and mounted to the side of the carrier. I saw the sides of Banner's cheeks move as the VTOL flight start to lift us in the air. "Oh, no. This is much worse."

* * *

Walking behind the three, I watched Steve's reactions to all the newness. He kept glancing around at all the new gadgets when we walked onto the bridge. Fury came towards us and Steve reaches into his pocket and handed Fury a ten dollar bill, causing me to frown.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury extended his hand towards Banner and he reluctantly shakes it. 

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh...how long am I staying?" Banner asked. Moving to a section of computers, I leaned down and slid up on the screen, Clint's face popped up.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear." Fury told him. Nat leaned down next to me as I pressed a few more buttons.

"Where are you with that?" I heard Banner ask. Coulson walked right in front of us, catching our attention.

"We're sweeping every wireless accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." Coulson explained to everyone who was listening. 

"That's still not gonna find them in time." Nat uttered as she glanced up at them. Turning away from the screen, I turned to the group that was standing in front of us. 

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Banner asked, turning to Fury with the question.

"How many are there?" Fury asked in response. Standing up from my crouched position, I moved to the face tracer which Jasper Sitwell was not handling.

Leaning a hand on the desk, I leaned over him causing him to glance at me. "Grace."

"Sitwell." I replied. My voice held no emotion as I spoke. Him and I didn't normally get along for reasons unknown to me. Pulling up the face tracer he had shoved into a corner, I zeroed in on Loki's facial features. 

"I could have done that." Sitwell complained once he noticed what I was doing.

"Yeah but you didn't. Could have had this done an hour ago and we would have found him by now." I mentioned. He gave me a small glare when I turned to lean against the desk.

Glancing down at my watch a few minutes later, I noticed Sitwell's fingers moving across the keyboard. Turning to the screen, Loki's face trace was shoved in the small corner of the screen again. 

"Stop." I shoved his fingers away. "Just let it do its thing." He again glared at me and leaned back in his chair. I cocked my head at him, giving him one back. 

"Красного." I heard him whisper as I turned my head away from him, crossing my arms. My head started to pound and I winced, reaching up to stroke my temple. 

_"Красного! Do it again!" A loud voice yelled as something smacked against the heel of my foot. Glancing up, I saw an older woman standing next to me, her graying hair pulled back in a tight bun. "Красного, up."_

_Slowly standing, I noticed two long curved knifes shoved into the floor and she was pointing at them. Stepping up to them, I placed one pointed ballet covered foot on the edge of the knife and balanced up on it. The other one followed._

_My legs ached from the pain of standing on my pointed feet for a long time on such a tiny surface. The woman came in front of me and pointed a finger in the direction of a dark corner. In that corner, stood a man with a metal arm. His cold eyes staring at me._

_"You mess up again, Красного, you'll face the soldat."_

"Grace, you okay?" Coulson's voice broke the spell I was under and my eyes opened to see him watching me. Along with Steve, Fury, Maria and oddly enough, Sitwell.

"Yeah, um...I need a minute." I mumbled before shoving myself off the desk and out of the bridge.

Getting into one of the bathrooms, I stared at myself in the mirror. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head down and turned on the water, splashing some in my face. When I opened my eyes, the man with the metal arm stood behind me. Staring at me with the same cold, dead, icy blue eyes; the muzzle still covering more than half his face. 

"You're not real. You're not real." I whispered to myself, closing my eyes again. When I reopened them, he was gone. "See, not real." 

Coming back to the bridge, Coulson was standing by Steve. Probably talking about his card collection.

"We got a hit. A 67% match," Sitwell announced. Walking over, I stood over his shoulder as he rolled back to his computer. "Wait, cross match, 79%."

"Location?" Coulson asked, becoming professional again. He moved over to me. 

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrassse. He's not exactly hiding." I spoke, zooming in on Loki's face, fully taking over Sitwell's computer. Fury's voice reached my ears from his spot. 

"Captain, you're up."


	30. The Monster

Dropping down from the Quinjet, I moved along the top of the museum; waiting for either Loki or Barton to show their faces. Music drifted up to my ears from below before suddenly instead of music, it was screaming.

People came rushing out of the building as Loki slowly followed them out of the door. Pressing my hand to my ear, I spoke into the comm. "I got eyes on target. I repeat, eyes on target."

"Coming back around." Nat's voice reached me before the comm went dead. Loki lifted his specter and blasted a cop car as it came around the corner. It shot up in the air and landed upside down. 

"Kneel before me." Loki ordered but everyone was so shocked to do what he said. "I said KNEEL!" Everyone slowly went down to their knees, frightened looks on their faces.

"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." His speech was cut short when an old, fragile man stood up.

"Not to men like you."

"There are no men like me." Loki replied. My eyebrow cocked. That's what you think.

"There are always men like you." The old man said. As I was watching him, my father's face flickered on the man's.

"Look to your elder people. Let him be an example." Loki said. My eyes widened as a blast was shot at the man, but a red, white, and blue shield covered the man and blocked it. 

I let out a quick breath of relief when the door behind me came crashing open. I whipped around to find Barton and a group of me coming out of the door. Shoving myself off the ledge, I came charging at him when he noticed me.

Ducking underneath his bow, I punched him in the stomach and he stepped back. Sliding around on my knees to turn back to him, he kicked me back. Landing on my back, he swung his bow down at me and I managed to move before it hit me. Striking his knee, he went down on the other one when music filled the air and a quick glance up, Stark flew down. 

That quick glance gave Barton enough time to swing his bow again. This time, it struck me in the side of the face. My head bounced against the roof as I landed on my hands. I heard his footfalls fading as he ran. 

Shoving myself to my feet, one hand went up to touch my face; hissing as I felt the cut on my lip and cheek. I could already feel the bruise forming. 

Damn you, Barton.

"Damn it, Steve. I'm fine." I shoved him away as he continued to paw at the bruise that was forming on my face. He gulped and nodded, stepping away from me but closer to Stark. Turning my head, Loki stared at me from his seat, his hands in shackles.

"I don't like it." Steve whispered to Stark as they both glanced at him.

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark replied, leaning an arm on the wall of the Quinjet.

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Steve muttered, his eyes remaining on Loki, who was still staring me down. 

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?" I snickered at Stark's idea of a joke, biting my bottom lip. Stark gave me a little smirk at my laugh.

"What?" Steve's eyebrows came together, him being confused of course.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle. Maybe you need grace to teach you a few things. Looks like she got the hang of it when she came back." Stark gestured towards me. I gave him a look about him bringing me into the conversation. 

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve mentioned, avoiding the jokes. 

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Stark threw back. Glancing away from them as a clap of thunder filled the Quinjet with the light of lightening. Turning to Loki, his face held worry as he looked up through the skylight. 

"What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightening?" Steve asked as Loki stares out the window intently, like he's waiting for something to show up.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." A frown graced my face from his answer. My eyes turned to the window as a blinding light hits the jet. My eyes instantly closed, confirming my theory with a thump from the top of the Quinjet.

Stark puts his helmet back on and opened the ramp causing my hair to fly around. "Stark, what the hell are you doing?!" I screamed at him.

Then a blonde, bulky man appeared in front of Stark on the ramp.

Thor was his name. Brother of Loki.

Thor shoved Stark out of his way with his hammer, knocking Steve down in the act. Thor ripped Loki out of his seat then jumped out with him.

Grasping the leather handles, I maneuvered into the seat next to Nat. I helped her get control of the jet as Steve and Stark argued behind us. "I'd sit this one out, Cap." Nat suggested as she glanced behind us.

"I don't see how I can." Steve replied. I reached up and flickered a few buttons as she answered him.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." And with that, he jumped out. 

"Does he always do that?" Nat questioned as I clicked the button to close the ramp and leveled the Quinjet. Glancing at her, I responded, "You have no idea."

* * *

My back pressed against the wall as Loki was freed from his shackles and contained in the large glass cell that was held up by hydraulic rigs. Fury walks up to the control panel that was in front of him.

"Incase it's unclear, if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass," Fury paused as he opened the hatch beneath the cell. A few loose hairs moved across my face as the wind filled the room. "30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?"

He closed the hatch, gesturing his hands to the control panel then to Loki. "Ant, boot."

Loki laughed as he backed up in the cell. "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, not for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury admitted, a slight hint to Banner's other half.

"Oh, I've heard. A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki said as he turned to look up at the camera that was hidden in the corner of the cell. 

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Fury fired back.

"Ooh. It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract. To have power. Unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is?" Loki fought back.

Fury just smirked and started to walk out of the room. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

Staying in the shadows of the room, I watched Loki as he moved closer to the camera that was casting to the bridge.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" My ear perked up as my comm picked up Banner's voice. I shook my head. Steve must have left his comm on again.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve's voice came out louder than Banner's. Yup, he left it on. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He's has an army call the Chitahuri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor explained. Loki shifted in his cage, glancing around in my direction. Since I was hidden in the shadows, he didn't notice me. 

"An army from outer space." Steve repeated, probably not believing what Thor was saying.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Banner added in.

"Selvig?" Thor questioned. My leg shifted slightly, my boot making a small scuffing sound against the floor. Loki leaned closer to the glass after his ear twitched, picking up on the sound I made.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Nat spoke up for the first time. 

Barton.

"I want to why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Steve brought up.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him." Banner stated. 

"Have care-," I reached up, turning off my coom as Thor's loud voice caused me to turn my head. Glancing back at Loki, he was turned with his back to me but his head was tilted back in my direction.

"I know you're there. Come out, little one." Loki muttered. I sighed and slowly stepped out of the shadows. He smirked as he fully turned around to face my direction again. "There you are."

"You knew I was here." I stated as I stopped in front of the cage, folding my arms in front of me.

"Of course. Barton told me that you liked hiding in the shadows." Loki admitted, walking towards me slowly.

"What else did Barton tell you?" I asked, shifting onto one leg, my hip jutting out.

"Oh, he told me lots of things." Loki uttered as he placed his hands behind his back, acting like the gentlemen he wasn't.

"What kind of things?" I asked again, my eyebrow coming up in annoyance.

"What didn't he, is what I should ask." Loki corrected me. 

"You see, Loki, I have all the time in the world to observe you. But you, not so much." Gesturing my head to the control panel, he slightly glanced at it before turning back to me. 

"You may think that, little one. And that's where you are wrong." He shot back. Both of my eyebrows shot up in fake surprise.

"Enlighten me why I don't." I smiled, trying to get him to give me something. Anything.

"You don't think I know what you've been doing. You pose as a friend and think I'm going to comply." Loki caught onto my little act like I planned.

"You're not enlightening me. Quite bored over here." I faked yawned, shifting to my other hip as I started to check my nails in boredom. 

"You want to be entertained? All you see is a caged animal in here but all the while they have a predator outside its cage. You wanna know what Agent Barton told me?" He paused as he stalked towards me in the cage. 

"He told me of your past, well, lack of it but I see it now. Your ledger is not dripping red, but it's flooded. Gushing. You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You are pathetic thinking you are any different from them." He hissed out as my eyes flickered away from him as he got closer.

"You know nothing about me. What Barton told you is a lie." I uttered, to anger him more. 

"You say that but you see it, don't you? Every time you close your eyes, you see what you can't remember. You act like you don't but your behavior says different. You don't admit it to yourself that you are the true monster here, you meowling quim." He hissed again as he slammed his fist on the glass.

Turning my back to him, I fake rapid and short breathes. "You see it, don't you? What you've done."

"You're a monster." I whispered to him as I faked sniffed.

"Oh no, love, you're the real monster here." He uttered. "But there's a bigger one here than just you."

My back straightened as I caught his sentence. Jerking around, I smiled at his confused face. "Banner, that's your play."

"What?" His eyebrows came together in confusion as I turned my comm back on, turning away from him.

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab. I'm on my way. Send Thor as well." I got Coulson's response before turning back to Loki who was more confused than ever. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Turning, I ran through the halls and into the lab where I found Stark, Fury, and Banner.

"Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Stark said as he watched me run into the room.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury reminded them as he glanced over at me as I stopped. 

"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signatures now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within a half mile." Banner said, gesturing towards the computer behind me. 

"Yeah, then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss." Stark paused before looking at the screen in front of him. "What is Phase Two?"

A loud thump came from behind me and I turned to find Steve letting go of a gun that looked oddly familiar. "Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me." Steve stated. Staring at the gun, I glanced at Fury for an answer.

"Rogers, Donovan. We gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This doesn't mean we're making-,"

"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" Stark interrupted him as he turned his computer to show us weapons plans. 

"I guess I was wrong, Nick. World hasn't changed a bit." I glared at him before turning and walking out of the lab as Fury tried calling me back.

As I made my way around the Helicarrier, I thought about everything. 

Fury and his lies.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

I sat down on a set of stairs, my knee bouncing as I thought about what I should do. Stay or leave. What do I do? What would my father tell me to do? 

Stay or leave?

"Grace, what's your location? We found the Tesseract." Nat's voice echoed in my ear but I ignored her.

A loud explosion echoed through the halls, causing the Helicarrier to shake around me. Standing up, a loud groan came from above us causing me to look up. Before I could even think to move, a large piece of metal came down. Clipping me in the shoulder, I was shoved down where my head hit the stairs behind me and everything went black.

_My fingers twitched as feeling came back to them. A loud beeping came from next to me as the feeling in my toes came back to me._

_"Removal of Red in t-minus five minutes." A voice over an intercom reached my ears. My eyes flickered open as they started to get less heavy._

_"Containment breach! I repeat, we have a containment breech with the Asset! Strike Team report to cryo freeze one. Strike Team, cryo freeze one." A man said as an alarm blared._

_MY body sagged slightly from my knees became tingly but something around my chest held me up. Glancing around, all I saw was flogged up glass. When I went to go reach to wipe it away, my arm barely moved an inch._

_Restrained, again._

_"Asset, no, no!" A male screamed before a loud crunch filled the room before silence. Locks clicked before the glass barrier in front of me disappeared and was replaced with a bare chest._

_A metal arm reached over and unstrapped the buckle around my chest before I was up and over a shoulder. My arms dangled, hitting his legs as he seemed determined to get somewhere._

_Voices echoed down the hall from where we came from so reaching up with my hands, I placed them on his hips and pushed myself up slightly to what was happening. Men ran at us, with one man yelling in, I think, Russian._

_Suddenly, the man holding me dropped to the ground. My body hit the ground hard but I turned to the man who had me. A mask covered his face but he reached up with his metal hand and moved a piece of my frozen hair out of my face. A hand ripped it away from me before someone grabbed the back of my shirt and started to drag me away from him._

_"Guess it's back to cryo for the both of you, Красного."_

"Donovan, do you copy?" My ear perked as my comm picked up a voice. My ears were ringing slightly before I heard it again. "Donovan, I repeat. Do you copy?"

Hill. That's who was talking. My eyes slowly opened and everything was slightly blurry but I could make out a figure standing in front of me. 

"Hello, little one." My vision became clearer as Loki stepped closer to my feet with his scepter in hand. A loud roar followed. "Seems you were right after all." He moved to where he was standing over my left leg and slowly kneeled to his hunches.

"Donovan, do you copy?" Hill's panicked voice said again. Loki must have heard because he reached down and removed the comm. 

"Let's take this out. You won't be needing it much longer." He stated as he yanked it out of my ear and threw it to the side. I watched it bounce off the wall and hit the floor. Feeling a hand move through my hair, I turned back to Loki as he pulled his hand back which was covered in blood.

My blood.

"Hmmm, guess you'll still do." Standing straight, he pressed the tip of the scepter against my chest and I could feel the power running through my veins.

_A loud whip cracked against my back. "Fight back, Красного."_

I threw my other leg up and shoved him away by his stomach. The minute the scepter moved away from my chest; the power quickly faded. Getting to my feet, I grabbed a hold of the scepter as he swung it at me, punching him in the face.

Letting go of the scepter, I stepped up on his slightly bent leg and threw my other left around his neck. Twisting my body violently, we both flipped then tumbled to the ground. Releasing my leg, I rolled out of the flip and got up before bolting down the hall.

"You'll pay for that, little one!" His war cry echoed down the many halls to me when a loud roar blared over it.

A few agents came upon my path and they all had S.H.I.E.L.D. suits on but instead of lowering their guns, they raised them higher before firing at me. I ducked behind an open door before pulling out my own gun.

Glancing around the door, I jerked back when a bullet came at me, sticking the wall. I threw my arm out, firing my own gun and a loud thump was heard before more gunfire at me followed. Pulling my arm back, I reloaded my gun before I noticed another hallway a little bit back the way I came. 

My jaw clenched as I thought about it.

With my back turned the hall, I ran out while shooting. A bullet grazed my arm as one of two men went down with the other as I reached the hall. Ducking behind it, I took a deep breath before coming out again. Firing once, the last man went down. 

Letting out a groan, I tore some of my shirt away from the wound on my arm to look at it. "Damn it." I cursed as I noticed it wasn't a through and through. Shaking my head, I ran down the hall, jumping over the fallen men before making it to the destroyed bridge.

"Donovan!" Hill's voice caught me as I slowed down. "Why didn't you respond to my calls?"

"Comm got destroyed." I let go of my injured arm to point up at the blood that was dripping down into the corner of my eye. She didn't catch onto my lie but she did look down, a look on her face that I haven't seen before. "What is it, Hill?"

"Coulson's down. They called it about five minutes ago."


	31. The Start Of The Battle

The nurse hummed as she cleaned the wound on my head. She already took the bullet out of my arm and patched it up the best she could. My hands shook as I stared at them on the table, not really paying much attention to her. 

Another man lost. 

But this time, it was a good one.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them," Fury stated as he tossed a set of cards on the table in front of Steve, who was next to me. Steve reached over and picked up one of the bloody cards. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor.... I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming."

The nurse finished with a slight brush of her hand on my shoulder before leaving. I shifted to look out the window, away from Fury's direction. He just moved in my line of vision, making me see that he was directly looking at me. 

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even risker. There was an idea, Stark knows this, call the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them too, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes," Fury paused as Stark jerked up from his chair before walking out of the bridge. "Well, it's an old-fashioned notion."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Steve get up and follow in the same direction Stark stalked off to. I also got up, turning to Fury who had moved behind Stark's chair. Reaching over, I grabbed the card that Phil was most proud of and started to walk off.

"Grace?" My feet stepped as I heard Fury call my name. Turning my head slightly into my shoulder so he knew that I was listening. "I avoided telling you because I knew how you would have reacted. I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did."

Giving him a small nod, I kept walking. Getting to my room, I pulled out a book from the shelves on the wall. This one was hidden among many, easy to look over. Opening it, small words of dreams that never can come and never be came rushing back. I sighed and placed the card next to his photo.

Pulling out his picture, I placed the book down on my desk. My fingertips felt around the edges of the old, fragile photo. It was the one taken when he got drafted into the army. It was slightly faded from the years but still quite visible.

His eyes still pierced my soul though the photo like they did on the first day. Moving the photo to my lips, I whispered the one thing I wished I could have said to him but never did when he was alive.

"I love you." Slightly kissing the photo, I placed it back in its place and put the book back in its place. The door opened me jerked open causing me to whip around on my feet. Steve glanced around my room before they landed on me. 

"Suit up, we got a location on Loki." I nodded before he quickly went out the way he came. Grabbing a new suit from the closet, I put it on and quickly zipped it up in the back. Sliding my boots on, I loaded up on weapons before running out of the door. 

"Barton!" I yelled as I caught up to them. All three turned as I ran up and hugged him. 

"Grace." He gave a small laugh, letting me know that he was back to his old self. 

"Come on, love birds. We gotta go." Nat snapped her fingers and we all went rushing down the hall. Walking up to a Quinjet, a male quickly stood up, facing Steve. 

"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here."

"Son, just don't." Steve uttered, brushing him off. Barton and Nat got in the pilot seats and started up the engines. Steve glanced at me as I reached up to the leather handle. 

"You ready?" His eyes flickered to the wound on my forehead. 

"Nothing has stopped me yet." He gave me a look at my answer before digging into a box that was near Nat's chair.

"Here, new comm." He threw it at me from across the Quinjet. "Don't lose or break it this time." I rolled my eyes as I slid it into place and turned it on as we made it to the outskirts of New York.

"Stark, we're on your three, headed North East." Nat stated through the comm. 

"What? Did you stop for drive-thru? Swing up Park. I'm going to lay them out for you." Stark instructed. 

Nat shifted the Quinjet to the direction of Park and that's when I noticed them. She fired at them as they came up from the road. Holding on tighter to the straps as both Clint and Nat maneuvered the jet upwards towards the sky. 

"Nat?" Clint called.

"I see him." Looking out the small window, Loki fired a blast at us with his scepter on Stark Tower. The blast hit one of the engines and we started to go down. 

I held tighter to the straps as the jet made a harsh landing on the road. Letting go, I reached over and dropped the ramp and we all got out.

"We got to get back up there." Steve said as we ran towards Stark Tower. A loud groan filled the air causing us to stop and look up towards the portal in the sky.

A large centipede looking creature came out, roaring like the monster it was. It glided over our heads as more Chitahuri jumped off its side and onto buildings. 

"Stark, you seeing this?" I asked, pressing my hand up to my comm. Steve glanced at me as he went back to the long creature. 

"Seeing, still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?" Stark as I could hear the wind behind his voice.

"Banner?" I spoke again, turning to Steve fully.

"Just keep me posted." Stark replied before his line went dead. I rolled my eyes when a loud explosion went off in front of us and Steve grabbed onto the strap that was holding an extra gun on my back and dragged me behind a taxi with the other two.

"We've got civilians still trapped up here." Clint said as I noticed the buss he was looking at. A few Chitahuri went by overhead with Loki riding one. 

"They're fish in a barrel down there." Steve said as he turned back to us as he finished looking over the bridge we were on.

"We got this. It's good. Go." Nat pushed us.

"Do you think you can hold them off?" Steve asked, glancing at Clint.

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Clint responded. Steve turned to me as Clint started to shoot down some of the army with some of his arrows.

"Grace, you get the civilians to safety and watch my back. Got it?" He paused as I rolled my eyes.

"Don't I always?" I shoved him in the direction of the edge of the bridge and he jumped down onto a bus below. Before he kept going, he made sure I made it onto the bus fine. "Go, I got the civilians."

He nodded and I jumped down from the bus to the street. As Steve ran for the army, I started to guide people into buildings for cover. A little girl screamed as an alien jumped in front of her and I jumped out my gun, shooting at it. I went down and yanked her up into my arms. Running into a small coffee shop, I handed her off to a woman who opened her arms for her. 

Running back out, I ducked under a blast and hid behind a taxi. Putting my arm through the window of the taxi, I shot down the alien who fired at me. I got up and stared down at it. 

"Ugly thing." I muttered before noticing Steve's blue suit up ahead with a few aliens sneaking up behind him. Sprinting to him, I shot one that was closing in on him as he took out the other two. 

"I need men in those buildings, lead the people down and away from the streets. I need a perimeter as back as 39th. An officer in front of Steve and I said into his walkie. He turned back to us as Steve glanced at me. 

"You need to watch your six, can't always be saving you, Cap." I smirked as I reached down and grabbed one of the alien's blaster. "Hmmm, maybe this will be more useful."

"Careful, you don't know how that thing works." Steve warned me. I shrugged and aimed it at a few aliens running towards us. Pressing a button that was near the middle, I jumped back as a blast went off and hit the middle in the line-up.

"Guess alien technology is quite simple." I muttered to myself.

"Watch out!" Steve shoved me down as one from the group shot at us. Grabbing his shield, he swipes and whacks at the Chitahuri until they went down. Getting up from being thrown back on the cab, I joined him as we moved our way back to the others. 

One of the soldiers swiped one of their guns at me, knocking me to my knees. He swung again, hitting me in the back. When I looked up, he was aiming his blaster at me. My eyes widened when lightening struck down from the sky, channeling a blast through the air. The Chitahuri soldier in front of me convulsed before dropping dead to the ground. Thor landed down and reached his hand down. Grabbing it, he pulled me to my feet. "You alright, Lady Grace?"

I nodded before Steve ran over. "What's the story upstairs?"

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." Thor said as I noticed a few people in the buildings around us, watching us with tearful faces. 

"Thor is right. We gotta deal with these guys." Stark said. 

"How do we do this?" Nat asked as she watched for any soldiers coming.

"As a team." Steve declared.

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor pointed out. Looking up, I watched the portal as more of those centipede-like creatures came out with more soldiers.

"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us..." Steve trailed off as the sounds of a motorbike interrupted him. Turning to look, I saw Banner getting off the bike and looked around the street.

"So this all seems horrible." Banner muttered. 

"I've seen worse." Nat reminded him. Guess she seen his other half. 

"Sorry."

"No. We could use a little worse." Nat quickly said after his apology. Reaching up to my comm, I called for Stark, telling him we got Banner.

"Banner?" Stark repeated.

"Just like you said." Steve spoke.

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Stark said before I saw him fly around from a building. A Chitahuri leviathan followed, roaring in anger.

"I've been to parties, Stark, how is that a party?" I whispered to him through the comm, which he didn't respond to.

Stark swooped down towards the street with the leviathan following him, barreling down the street like a freight train that kept building up with intensity. Banner turns around and Steve looks at him as he walked towards the monster.

"Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry." Steve suggested to him. 

"That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry." Banner said as he looked away from Steve. His body began to swell as his shirt began to rip away. His skin turned green before he let out a roar and slammed down on the monster's nose. 

The creature started to flip and Stark shoots out a rocket, hitting a soft spot in the creature. The creature blew up in pieces, some on fire. I ducked for cover behind a taxi, Barton doing the same. His arm came around my back as he shoved himself next to me, feeling a few pieces of the monster hitting me and hearing them hitting the ground. 

I could hear the Chitahuri screaming in rage as I heard the Hulk let out one in comparison. Glancing up, I saw more Chitahuri soldiers coming out of the portal with more leviathans' creatures following.

"Call it, Cap." Stark said as Barton and I stood, we all gathered around.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out; you turn it back or you turn it to ash." Steve instructed.

Barton turned to Stark who was standing next to him. "Wanna give me a lift?"

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Stark grabbed Barton by the strap of his quiver and shot up into the sky and out of sight.

"Thor," I turned back to Steve as he began to talk again. "You've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightening. Light the bastards up." Thor flies up as Steve turns to Nat. "You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. Hulk, smash. And Grace, keep the civilians out of the way. We don't need any more injured than already are." 

I nodded before running off. 


	32. The Defeat

"Why is this happening?" A young woman cried to me as I led her away from a dead alien. Looking at her, I took in the blood that was dripping down her face.

"I don't know, just come with me." I ordered her. She clenched my hand as I led her into a building. "Stay here, understand?"

Running out of the building, a blast caught me in the stomach, knocking me to the ground. I held my stomach as I let out a loud groan. Loud gun fires caught my attention and when I looked up, I saw the same woman I just led into the building firing at the soldiers with my gun. 

Arms came under mine and I felt myself being pulled up. "Come on, honey. We got you." Moving my head, I noticed an older man and woman helping me up. They helped me back into the building with the young woman following. Sitting down, the woman sat in front of me. 

"I killed one." She paused before turning to me fully. "Oh my god, I just saved my hero."

"Yeah, you." I groaned as I shoved myself to my feet. 

"No, no, honey. You're injured. You can't go back. You've done enough." The older woman who helped me inside said as she tried to get me to sit back down. Looking at her before turning to the people who cowered away in the small restaurant. 

"I'm an Avenger. This is what I do." I announced before reaching my hand out. The young woman placed my gun back in my hand. 

"But you're just human, like the rest of us. You could die." The woman stated as she removed her hand. 

"I'm no mere mortal, my darling. I'm the daughter of the greatest mind of 1943. This," I gestured my head towards outside. "Is nothing compared to my past."

"Grace Donovan, daughter of Dr. Erskine." The older man said. "I remembered reading about you and your father in the history books when I was younger. You were a part of the Howling Commandos. They had said you died a long time ago during the war."

"Yeah, guess the books were wrong. So, if that tells you anything, I have to go back out." I said as I started to walk towards the door. Turning back to them, "Stay here. Don't come out til it's safe."

Running out, I aimed my guns at the aliens coming towards the building. Firing at them, they all went down easily. Going further down the streets, I ordered people take shelter as I took out more of the army as they came towards the civilians. 

"I can close it!" Nat's voice echoed through the comm. "Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" Steve ordered her. Aiming my gun at another soldier, I shot it down it went down with a thud.

"No, wait!" Stark yelled.

"Stark, these things are still coming." Steve said causing me to look up towards the portal.

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it." Stark replied.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?" Steve reminded him. 

Stark didn't respond but he flew over my head with the nuke and up the portal, disappearing. I held my breathe as all the aliens around me started to fall to the ground. Turning away from them, I watched the portal. Waiting for him to come out.

"Close it." Steve ordered Nat.

As the portal started to close in the sky, I saw him falling through the air. Then the Hulk appeared in the air, grabbing him. I quickly ran to where I had seen them land to see Steve leaning back on his heels and Stark breathing heavily.

"Alright, yay! Hurray. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried Shawarma? There's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I want to try it." Stark rambled before Thor spoke, glazing up at the destroyed Stark Tower.

"We're not finished yet."

* * *

Watching Loki being shackled and a muzzle over his mouth was kind of felt right after all the destruction he did in New York. Banner handed over the cube in a container and both Loki and Thor disappeared with a flash of light. The whole team said goodbye to one another and Steve stepped up to me. 

"So, what now?" He asked me, giving me a small smile.

"Well, you're gonna take me home so I can sleep for the next five years."


End file.
